Sanderson Farms Inc., the fourth- largest U.S. chicken producer, said rising prices for boneless, skinless breast meat indicate that demand from U.S. food service may have bottomed in recent months.
“What we’ve seen in November, December and January is hopeful,” Joe Sanderson Jr., chief executive officer of the Laurel, Mississippi-based chicken processor, said in a telephone interview today. “We have to see it a little longer before we can say things are improving.”
About 40 percent of Sanderson’s sales come from food- service customers including restaurants such as Chili’s, On the Border and Arby’s, he said. Customers have told him that while business is still “soft” it is “no worse,” Sanderson said. Chicken demand also accelerated during the fourth quarter as food-service operators featured poultry over other meats, according to a Jan. 14 report by BB&T Capital Markets.
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