By STEVE BINDER
Illinois Correspondent

CHICAGO, Ill. — Using both hands, Janice Whiteside lifted two 10-pound bags of chicken leg quarters and plopped them into her grocery cart.

The mother of three was shopping recently at her local grocery store in Jackson County and the chicken – at 39 cents a pound, or $7.80 for all 20 pounds she put in her cart – was at the top of her shopping list.

“How can you beat 39 cents a pound? I’ll freeze one bag, and we’ll get at least two meals out of the other. I hope the price stays this low for a while,” said the southern Illinois resident.

Whiteside and other dark-meat chicken lovers may get their wish because top chicken producers, particularly Chicago-based Tyson, Inc., have said they will keep more of the dark meat chicken for consumption in the United States this year.

Most thighs and drumsticks have been exported to countries such as Russia and China, but those two already have dropped import levels this year for different reasons. Russia is producing more of its own chicken, while China imports have dropped off because of added tariffs on U.S. chicken, said Bill Roenigk, vice president at the National Chicken Council.

For the most part, chicken consumers in the U.S. generally prefer white over dark meat by a 2-1 ratio, so companies such as Tyson have historically exported most of its thighs and legs. But with the U.S. economy still struggling and with unemployment rates continuing near double-digits, the less expensive cuts of chicken are becoming more popular.

“We are making it more available to U.S. consumers than it has been in the past,” Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman said. “Consumers watching their pocketbooks are quickly recognizing the value in these products, so we expect to see growth there.”

In addition to drumsticks and thighs, Tyson this summer will market other dark-meat items such as ground chicken, smoked sausage and pizza toppings.
One economist told the Associated Press he believes the move by U.S. chicken producers to keep more of its dark meat here likely will pay dividends for the companies and consumers.

“Every dark meat item in the U.S. is being sold at a larger discount than if we had exports, because we are overwhelming the domestic market,” said Jim Robb, economist at the Livestock Marketing Information Center. The center provides economic analysis to the livestock industry. For the first four months of the year, chicken exports were up by about 5 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the USDA. For the entire year, though, the USDA estimates exports will be down by about 5.5 percent, compared to all of 2010.