• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Chicken To Become As Expensive As Beef, Experts Say

Home> News

Published 08:52 2 May 2022 GMT+1

Chicken To Become As Expensive As Beef, Experts Say

Chicken is rising faster in price than any other protein, retail experts have warned

Simon Fearn

Simon Fearn

The cost of chicken is spiralling to the extent that it could soon become more expensive than beef, retail experts have warned.

The rocketing cost of chicken feed means that what used to be considered one of the most affordable meats is now rising in price faster than any other protein.

This is exacerbated by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Chicken feed is mostly made from soya, sunflower meal and wheat, with Russia and Ukraine both being big exporters of sunflower oil (of which sunflower meal is a byproduct) and wheat.

Steve Murrells, chief executive of Co-op group and a former senior manager at Tesco and Sainsbury’s, warned that the days of cheap as chips chicken breasts are coming to an end.

Advert

Chicken could soon become as expensive as beef.
Alamy

He told The Retail & eCommerce directors’ forum, as reported by the Sunday Times: “Chicken could become as expensive as beef. The chicken industry has particular challenges because of the feed costs.

“The majority of cattle raised in this country are fed grass and it is not required to have high-dense feed.

“Chicken, which was incredibly cheap and great value for money, is rising quicker than any other protein.”

The average cost of chicken increased by 31p per kg from March last year, or about 12 percent, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. This is roughly the same as the increase in the cost of beef, but that could all be set to change soon.

Advert

According to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), the cost of rearing a chicken has increased by 50 percent over the same period.

Murrells continued: “You could see a shift into pasture [animals], you could see a shift into more plant-based food.

“Customers will have to be savvy about what they can afford.”

Chicken is rising faster in price than any other protein.
Alamy

Chicken is the UK’s most popular meat, the Guardian reports, and rising costs coupled with soaring energy bills could hit low income families hard.

Advert

While whole chickens are still available for £3 in most major supermarkets, some of the most popular high street chains are already starting to hike their prices.

Nando’s has increased prices on some of its dishes by as much as eight percent over recent months, the Mirror reports, with the cost of half a chicken and two sides rising by 70p.

A spokesperson for the chain put the increased cost down to ‘the continued rise in the cost of ingredients and the difficult trading environment caused by Covid’.

Dr Benjamin Coles, an economic geographer at the University of Leicester, also told the Times: “Will chickens become more expensive than beef? I don’t think that’s a bad speculation.

“We import a lot of beef so there is the cost of transportation. But I can say that the supply chain for a chicken is extraordinarily big and complicated, and it is dependent on a lot – chicken feed including soybeans, which are imported, energy as well as transport costs.”

Advert

So enjoy your cheap chicken while it lasts, folks.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Food And Drink, UK News

Simon Fearn
Simon Fearn

Simon is a sub-editor at LADbible. He studied journalism at City, University of London, and has written for Digital Spy, The Stage and The Drinks Business. He's a big fan of low budget horror films, regular caffeine hits and extended arguments about Oxford commas. You can contact Simon at [email protected].

X

@smffearn

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

8 hours ago
9 hours ago
  • 8 hours ago

    Everything we know about Texas floods that have killed at least 121 as Trump arrives at disaster site

    The President and the First Lady have headed to the state one week after the horror floods wreaked havoc

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Scientists make surprising discovery at what lies under Antarctic ice sheet after its been covered in ice for 34 million years

    It could help scientists predict the future of the ice sheet

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Paedophile to be surgically castrated after raping girl, 6, in nation's shock new punishment tactic

    It comes a year after a law was passed in Madagascar permitting the controversial punishment

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Scientists think they've worked out what unknown interstellar object in our solar system is

    It came from outside our own solar system

    News
  • Experts give five ways to help grow your moustache as they say it's not only genetics
  • People divided as McDonald's implements '30 minute rule' for customers
  • EU announces first-ever plan to stockpile essential items as WW3 fears intensify
  • Geoff Capes listed his 12,000-calorie daily diet to become world's strongest man as British shot put legend dies aged 75