Expect higher prices for your Thanksgiving turkey this year

 

Top headline:  The Hill, 8/10/2025

Photo:  Bigstock

Bottom headline:  WATT Poultry, 9/22/2025

Mark Jordan reports:

Transitioning to the second half of the year and especially as the holiday season comes into view, whole turkey and breast meat values tend to appreciate on a spot basis, and while that has been the case again this year, increases go beyond what can be explained by seasonality alone, not to mention further reductions to the supply base. 

Frozen 8-16 pound hens have been quoted above US$1.50 per pound since late July and even touched the US$1.60 mark briefly while fresh tom breast meat has added nearly US$2 over the same time frame and posted an all-time high of US$6.71 per pound during the second week of September. 

At the rate tom breast meat is climbing, knowing that seasonal forces and the supply-side trajectory remain bullish, that market should have no trouble clearing the US$7 mark long before Thanksgiving arrives.  [emphasis added]

Related posts:

September 2025

South Dakota continues to be hit hard by avian flu.  (9/21)

Minnesota reports avian flu in flock of tom turkeys.  (9/19)

Nebraska reports its first known case of avian flu in dairy herd.  (9/17)

Canadian Food Inspection Agency reports 4 cases of avian flu in Alberta but otherwise remains mum.  (9/17)

South Dakota reports additional cases of avian flu in turkey flocks.  (9/14)

Must be Kristi Noem's bad karma and her Corey Lewandowski hook-up:  South Dakota is ground zero for avian flu so far this fall.  (9/10)

Avian flu is not going away:  Texas records U.S. case #1079 since January 2024.  (9/9)

April-August 2025

You've heard of avian flu, right?  How about Marek's disease?  (8/7)

Public relations news:  Not a good year so far for chickens and eggs.  (6/13)

USDA secretary Brooke Rollins poses with chickens while keeping key department positions unfilled.  (4/11)