Christmas turkey sales were poor this year, prompting the
national marketing agency to think about reducing production this year.
The industry has 19 million kilograms in frozen storage, up
sharply from 14.7 million a year earlier.
“What we’ve seen is that consumption of
whole birds has stayed relatively flat, it’s not even quite on par with
population growth,” says Phil Boyd, executive director of Turkey Farmers of
Canada.
“One of the contributing factors of
these increased stocks is that the large retailers reduced the amount of
featuring during the festive season by using turkey as a loss leader,” Bill
Uruski told farmers attending the annual meeting of the Manitoba Turkey
Producers in Winnipeg.
“While in the past this type of marketing did pull through a
lot of birds, it’s difficult to understand how this type of marketing strategy
benefits our industry in the long run,” he was quoted by Manitoba Cooperator.
Customers who are used to purchasing underpriced turkeys in
the lead-up to holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter, may balk at
buying turkey when the true price of production is reflected, he said.
The national agency nudged production higher last year and
that was another factor leading to the increase in storage stocks.
Boyd said the directors of the national agency are scheduled
to decide production for the upcoming fiscal year when they meet late this
month.
