HPAI impact on Jennie-O in fall less severe than in spring

While Jennie-O Turkey Store’s operations are still being adversely affected by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak, the outbreak’s impact has not been as severe during the fall as it was in the spring.

Roy Graber Headshot
Courtesy Hormel Foods
Courtesy Hormel Foods

While Jennie-O Turkey Store’s operations are still being adversely affected by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak, the outbreak’s impact has not been as severe during the fall as it was in the spring.

“HPAI has reemerged this fall and this unprecedented event has affected our vertically integrated supply chain at about one-third of the magnitude of the spring event,” Hormel Foods Chief Financial Officer Jacinth Smiley said on November 30 during Hormel’s fourth quarter earnings call.

Hormel Foods is the parent company of Jennie-O Turkey Store.

As the HPAI outbreak struck Jennie-O operations this spring, the company notified shareholders about the situation, and just six months ago, Hormel CEO Jim Snee said he expected there to be “large supply gaps in the Jennie-O Turkey Store vertically integrated supply chain, caused by flock losses to date.”

But cases of HPAI slowed down dramatically during the summer months. In Minnesota alone, where Jennie-O Turkey Store is headquartered, there were no cases of HPAI in commercial turkey operations between May 21 and August 30.

And while Smiley describes the re-emerging of the outbreak in the fall as less severe than it was in the spring, and Snee said he expected “a recovery in turkey volumes in the back half of the year,” Smiley said she still expects production to be below normal levels for at least the short term.

“We now anticipate the impacts for HPAI to reduce production volume in our turkey facilities through at least the first half of fiscal 2023,” she said.

Quarterly results for Jennie-O Turkey Store

Four the fourth quarter, the Jennie-O Turkey Store segment of Hormel Foods saw profits increase 149%, despite a 32% reduction in volume and 15% decline in net sales when compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021.

The company stated that the decrease in volume and sales was expected as a result of the supply impacts caused by HPAI.  However, the profit was still able to rise, primarily due to higher commodity prices and an improved value-added mix.

 To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in the United States and Canada, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com. 

Read our ongoing coverage of the global avian influenza outbreak.

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