In recent days, following international media reports, there has been growing worry among Bahamian consumers about the rising cost of holiday food staples, including turkeys. Super Value owner Rupert Roberts said there is no need for panic, given that his supply was ordered six months ago before prices shot up.
Continued supply chain shortages across the globe and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 economic crisis have driven up the cost of everything from plastic raw materials to everyday food grocery items, including turkeys. US media outlets have reported a 15 to 20 percent rise in turkey prices this year over last year.
But Roberts said Bahamians, at least in Nassau, needn’t worry and there is no need to panic shop early. He said prices will be higher, but not as high as many have concerns about.
Not in Nassau, we have enough,” he told Guardian Business yesterday.
“Before the pandemic, you were paying about $1.19 per pound for all sorts of sizes, now you have to pay up to $1.80. So that’s going to be the problem in regards to turkeys this year. Fortunately, we bought in April and then we had to buy more as the price went up.”
“We feel we have adequate stocks. We bought early and we thought we didn’t have enough, so we bought again and again. We’re going to average the price. You can buy your turkey when you want it, we have the supply and the price is the price. Fortunately, we bought early in the year and that is going to subsidize the price.”
Given the shortage and buying price, Super Value Perishable Buyer Clifton Fernander said shoppers should look to spend slightly more per pound.
“I think the turkeys are going to be around $2.49 a pound without the VAT. So $2.49 on the Jennie-O’s and then on the Butterball, that’s the Cadillac of turkeys so they will be around $2.69 a pound,” he said.
“We were able to secure some of our birds in April and May, so we do have some smaller size birds, we will have small, medium and large sized birds. We were able to do that before all of them were gone. So we will have some.”
That means an average sized 16-pound turkey that can feed up to ten people would cost between $39.84 and $43.04 depending on the brand.
Fernander said while the chain of food stores underestimated how many units would be needed last holiday season, it has bought more than enough for Bahamian shoppers at various price points.
He explained why smaller and less expensive birds may be hard to find.
“The farmers last year would have hatched their chicks. But imagine, one plant employs about 1,500 – 2,000 workers and there were only 250 workers showing up daily. Then arises the problem where you have these turkeys, they are eating every single day – because chickens and turkeys eat a lot – and they are getting bigger and bigger. And of the 2,000 workers you only have 250 coming in, so you don’t have enough workers to harvest the birds, as they need to be harvested for the different sizes – like 10-12 pounds, 12-14 pounds, 14-16 pounds and 16-18 pounds,” Fernander said.
“Therefore, what was happening is the farmers had to keep feeding the birds, but they couldn’t harvest them because there was nobody to harvest them, so they got bigger and bigger. The preferable size turkey is more like a medium size, a 14-16 pound turkey or 16-18 pound turkey,; and so the domestic market in the US has used up all of the smaller sized turkeys. So that leaves the international market with only 20 pounds and up, the big birds. All of the smaller sizes are already gone.”
As for the other favorite holiday meat in The Bahamas, picnic hams, Fernander said there is the same challenge but it is not as bad.
“The only thing we can find with hams right now are the large hams, the 24-pounds to 26-pound hams, which we found to be too large. But with hams we should be okay, we secured early.”
Roberts chimed in, “The US doesn’t have the large demand for hams as turkeys.”
The post Super Value chief: No need to panic over turkey prices appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/super-value-chief-no-need-to-panic-over-turkey-prices/
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