Producer profits to boost chicken productionProducer profits to boost chicken production

Broiler production continues to grow, up 1.8 percent from a year ago in April, despite higher feed costs. That’s mostly because higher boneless, skinless chicken-breast prices — some 50 cents per pound above a year ago — are offsetting cost increases for producers. High breast prices, along with leg-quarter prices in excess of 50 cents per pound, should mean record-large profits for poultry producers in the second half of 2013. With forecasts for sharply lower feed prices with the new harvest this coming fall, producers have every incentive to rebuild breeding flocks and further increase output later this year. The Agriculture Department projects broiler prices to jump 18 percent to $102 per hundredweight in 2013, but then to drop 10 per...