Turkey growers enjoy strong Christmas trade
A good growing season for turkeys and a near market clearance at Christmas meant most producers enjoyed a better 2013, despite the continued trend to late ordering and stiffer competition from imports.
Addressing the annual post-mortem meeting of the Anglian Turkey Association in Essex, local grower David Barron said the Christmas trade had got off to a particularly slow start. Out of 2,200 bronze and white birds, he still had 400 unsold by the time plucking had finished on 11 December.
“The butchers trade was especially slow, as they only ordered what they had sold and were not taking any extras,” he said. “But they kept coming back for more and in the end we sold every bird.”
Overall, the butchers trade was back about 5-10%, said Mr Barron. In part, he blamed the appearance of more cheap, imported turkey “butterflies” from Italy. “These offer the housewife greater convenience, less waste and give the butcher a higher margin.”
But with feed costs down in 2013 and a small 2-3% price rise passed on to consumers, he anticipated a year of slightly better producer margins too, despite significant increases in labour and fuel costs. “That makes up for the previous year, when we failed to cover the increased feed costs.”
Berkshire-based traditional turkey producer Tom Copas Jnr agreed that the butchers’ trade had been “tricky”, with a lack of footfall through shop doorways, and very late orders.
Butchers were declining in numbers, he added, while competition from supermarkets was intensifying.
As for direct sales, Mr Copas reported a slight drop in farmgate business, attributed to the fact that “collection day” was very wet and did not fall on the weekend, as it had in 2012.
Overall, however, Mr Copas agreed that 2013 had been a better one for the traditional turkey grower. Good weather ensured the birds put on weight quickly, mortality was low and investment in cold storage had paid off.
For a full report on the Christmas turkey trade and the performance of the ATA turkey exchange, see next month’s Poultry World.