MINNEAPOLIS — Bird flu took a bite out of the turkey supply. Heavy rain washed out the pumpkin crop. Yet Thanksgiving groceries likely won’t cost Americans much more than last year.
Bird flu wiped out 8 million turkeys, but these birds don’t play by the usual rules of supply and demand. That’s because grocers lure holiday shoppers by offering cheap turkeys, even selling them at a loss, says Richard Volpe, a professor at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Further shielding consumers is that most of the birds destined to grace Thanksgiving tables this year were slaughtered and frozen before the outbreak, said Thomas Elam, president of FarmEcon LLC, a consultant to the poultry industry. The exception? Fresh turkeys. USDA figures show that fresh whole hens averaged $1.60 a pound on the spot market at the start of November, compared with $1.36 a year ago.
