RECORD TURKEY PRICES
Minnesota, the nation’s top turkey-producing state, suffered infections in two commercial flocks in late August after going three months without cases, USDA data show. The state then saw more cases in September.
“Seeing a spike in August was not something that was expected,” said Ashley Kohls, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.
After infections, it takes about six months to decontaminate farms and resume turkey production, Kohls said.
Minnesota-based Hormel Foods Corp, owner of the Jennie-O Turkey Store brand, said it expects avian flu to reduce its turkey production at least through March 2023.
“We’ve worked really hard but clearly this is still an issue,” Hormel CEO James Snee said on a conference call last month.
Retail prices for fresh boneless, skinless turkey breast reached a record US$6.70 per pound last month, up 112 per cent from a year earlier and 14 per cent above the previous record from 2015, the American Farm Bureau said.
Turkey meat production this year is set to drop 6 per cent from 2021 to 5.2 billion pounds, according to the USDA.
US farmers, who face high costs for feed and labor, were already cutting production before the outbreak due to declining profits. Inventories of turkey breasts in cold storage facilities reached a record low this year, USDA data show.
Indiana turkey farmer Greg Gunthorp said grocers, online retailers and other buyers have called searching for whole turkeys and breasts. Antibiotic-free turkey breasts are selling for US$7 to US$9 per pound wholesale, compared to about US$3 before the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
“The turkey market right now is the craziest I’ve ever seen it,” Gunthorp said.
Infections in flocks have triggered export restrictions on US poultry, further hurting producers. China, a major buyer, has blocked poultry from entire states with confirmed cases and is taking longer than it should to lift the bans, the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council said.
China this month suspended poultry imports from Arkansas, the third-biggest producer of chickens raised for meat, after the state reported its first infection of the year, USDA records show. The state’s agriculture secretary, Wes Ward, said he had hoped Arkansas could avoid the disease.
“The virus has changed,” Ward said. “Hopefully it’s one of those where the virus will burn itself out after a year or so and maybe things will calm down again.”
For all the latest world News Click Here
