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Expert: Storms should not affect turkey pricesIf consumers pay more for holiday turkeys this year than last, it's not due to Hurricane Floyd, according to a N.C. State University poultry expert.While flooding from the hurricane wiped out about 750,000 of North Carolina's 50 million turkeys, that's only 1.5 percent of the birds on hand, said Jessie Grimes, associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Science's poultry science department and poultry specialist with the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. "We did have a few birds pulled in early, which meant lost weight to the growers, but prices were really strong for turkeys before the hurricane because the supply already was reduced," said Grimes. "There was a business decision made not to place as many birds in the field, and with less supply comes more demand and higher prices." Still North Carolina, the nation's top turkey producer, has 1.27 billion pounds of live turkeys on hand right now, he said. Storms notwithstanding, retailers often use turkeys as "loss leaders," or low-price enticements to lure buyers into shopping their stores, Grimes said. "There might not be as much of a discount on turkeys as when there was a greater supply, but if there's a price change, it's due to other factors, not to the hurricane," he said. Cash receipts or on-farm value of turkeys for 1998 was $470 million, Grimes said. |
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