Turkey costs change for Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a good time of the year for turkey sales. However, they have low prices influenced by the avian influenza epidemic in 2015. Where 60 million birds were culled to prevent the spread of the disease. The loss of export markets and the domestic surplus has followed the turkey market for years. Historically during Thanksgiving, retail prices go to near annual lows while wholesale from us dropshippers reach annual highs. Thanksgiving dinner will cost a little less than it did last year. The American Farm Bureau released its 33rd annual survey and found the average cost of a feast for 10 is $48.90. Fewer than five bucks a person and slightly lower than last year's average. Retail turkey prices are the biggest change, a 16-pound bird is about $22, the lowest cost since 2014. But that is normal according to Gretta Irwin with the Iowa Turkey Federation, grocery stores try to lower the price of turkeys to draw customers in, "The turkeys are often used as a loss leader to get you into the store to purchase your other groceries at Thanksgiving time period. Because, as we saw in the Farm Bureau survey, the actual cost for Thanksgiving meals is right around 5 dollars per person. I think that's as cheap as you can find any type of meal out there." But the recent sharp decline in turkey prices does not seem to be making it as much to the store. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS), lower wholesale prices no longer mean lower retail prices. Between 2014 and 2016, the November markup from factory to store was 18 percent. The retail markup in 2017 was at 78 percent and 65 percent in 2018. The ERS concludes past relationships between wholesale us dropshippers and retail Thanksgiving turkey prices may be fading as the retail side has become less responsive toward downward movements. Irwin is staying optimistic, Iowa turkey producers are a good example of local, value-added agriculture. She says turkeys are a growing industry, "Well I still think agriculture has a lot to be thankful for this year. We're seeing some of the trade agreements come through, so for example, us in the turkey industry being able to enter into Canada could bring about a 24 percent increase into our turkey exports into Canada. So I think there's some really good things coming."
