Boneless-skinless breast meat in regular packs continued in 2013 to be the top chicken product featured in advertised sales by supermarkets, according to a report from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, Agricultural Analytics Division. This product accounted for 7.32 percent of total features advertised weekly by the 23,200 supermarkets covered by the survey in the 50 states. The average national featured price was $2.96 per pound with a regional low of $2.58 per pound in the western mountain states and a high of $3.38 per pound in the southwestern states.

Drumsticks in value packs ranked the second most featured product, accounting for 5.71 percent of total advertised features and had an average price of $1.18 per pound. Moving up from fourth place in  2012 to third place last year were boneless-skinless breasts in value packs. This product represented 5.49 percent of total features and had an average price of $2.45 per pound. Trading places with value pack boneless-skinless breasts were thighs in value packs, ranking fourth most popular feature in 2013 compared with third in 2012. Thighs in value packs accounted for 5.14 percent of total features with a price of $1.20 per pound.

Not all supermarket features were discounted price advertisements. That is, during an average week 12.9 percent of the supermarkets were running features that were “no price” promotions, such as buy one, get one, 40 percent off all chicken products, loyalty card discounts or bonus gas rewards, and similar deals.

To view the complete listing of the top 50 chicken items of the 61 items covered in USDA’s “Weekly Retail Chicken Feature Activity” report, and the graph of winners and losers of the various chicken items, click here, and to read “A Few Thoughts” about the top 50 rankings prepared by Michael Sheats of AMS Agricultural Analytics Division, click here.