The recession may be over, but stinging inflation is back for Delaware's chicken companies.
Costs for corn have doubled in a matter of months, surging to — and briefly beyond — three-year highs in recent trading. That has pinched poultry producers like Perdue Farms, Mountaire Farms and Allen Family Foods, which add billions to Delaware's economy and employ thousands here, but remain heavily susceptible to price spikes in corn, a prime chicken feed.
Consumers are also expected to share in the pain in the form of costlier grocery bills. After two years of only modest gains in food prices, supermarket inflation is back in a big way, experts say.
Some of Delaware's poultry producers are responding to the cost surge by slashing production or putting planned capacity expansions on hold. The hope is that shorter supplies will lead to higher prices.
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