Chicken and Pork to Fill U.S. Meat Cases in 2008

Supermarket meat cases will be filled with chicken and pork, much of it at lower prices than a year ago, while supplies of beef may be less, but still plentiful, agricultural economists said.

"We are going to have lots of meat -- lots of pork and lots of chicken," said Paul Aho, economist with Poultry Perspective, a consulting firm.

The projected abundance of meat is due to chicken and hog producers ramping up production after a period of healthy profits.

At the same time, however, analysts caution that the wild card is demand. Meat demand in 2008 will depend very much on the overall health of the U.S. economy.

"One thing that would throw a monkey wrench in all of this is if we were to have a recession," Aho said. "We won't really know that for a few more months. If we do, that could depress the consumption of meat."

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