Consumers may be noticing turkey prices at retail are on par with and even lower than what they paid in advance of Thanksgiving one year ago. However, Shayle Shagam, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) livestock analyst, said wholesale prices are actually above what they were a year ago.
Speaking during a November 17 USDA Radio News interview, Shagam said the supply of frozen turkey hens has been running around 17% lower than the supply from the same time of 2019, and the wholesale price is around $1.14 per pound, up from the price of around $1 per pound in 2019.
However, the retail prices being seen in advance of Thanksgiving are comparable to those of 2019, and in many cases, those retail prices have been substantially lower than they were in 2019. Shagam pointed out that a number of nationwide retailers have been running specials of around 84 cents per pound. In some cases, the retail price has even dipped below 40 cents per pound.
Shagam said that situation has more to do with retail strategies than it does current turkey market price trends.
“Stores often use turkey prices as an incentive to bring in shoppers to buy the other fixings that normally go with the Thanksgiving meal,” Shagam explained.
Because fewer families are planning to hold large Thanksgiving gatherings in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many shoppers are opting to only purchase a turkey breast or a smaller bird than they normally would.
Shagam said USDA figures have shown that many of the nation’s turkey producers are making adjustments to adapt to that consumer trend.
“For the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, there have been a number of weeks where those weights have been below a year earlier,” Shagam said.
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