Thanksgiving turkey sales were disappointing,
prompting the national supply management agency to cut production by three
million kilograms for the balance of the fiscal year.
That reduces the target from 63 to 60 million
kilograms for the 2018-19 fiscal year.
The national further-processing allocation was set at
83,877,082 kilograms.
After its recent meeting, the directors of Turkey
Farmers of Canada decided that “these allocations will be reviewed based on the
release of the January 2018 inventories, particularly with respect to the whole
bird allocation,” said news media relations officer Alan Sakach.
“For a variety of reasons, the domestic disappearance
through Thanksgiving 2017 was not on par with 2016,” he wrote in an e-mail.
“Supply was plentiful-to-long, but retail movement
lagged.
“Given that and the persistent need to bring a
reduction to frozen inventories, a reduction on whole bird allocation of three
million kilograms for 2018/19 was seen as a prudent, if unwelcomed, choice."
