Topline
People might want to pay up for Thanksgiving dinner this November, as the typical price for a Thanksgiving feast for 10 is at an all-time excessive of $53.31, in line with an annual American Farm Bureau Federation survey launched Thursday.
Key Information
The $53.31 price ticket is a 14% improve from 2020, when the typical dinner for 10 was $46.90.
The survey, in its thirty sixth yr, is predicated on shopper pricing knowledge from 230 surveys accomplished in all 50 states and compiles costs on 12 staple Thanksgiving gadgets akin to boxed stuffing and pumpkin pie combine.
Turkeys are the first perpetrator for the value improve, because the survey estimated a 16-pound turkey will price $23.99 this yr, a 24% improve from 2020’s $19.39 turkey price ticket.
The costly Thanksgiving tab can largely be traced again to excessive inflation hitting American customers, as inflation reached a 31-year excessive in October, with the rapidly rising worth in meat, poultry, fish and eggs—attributable to important labor shortages at meatpackers—a main driving drive behind the rising client costs.
Essential Quote
Veronica Nigh, senior economist on the American Farm Bureau Federation, outlined the explanations for the value improve in a statement: “A number of components contributed to the rise in common price of this yr’s Thanksgiving dinner. These embrace dramatic disruptions to the U.S. economic system and provide chains over the past 20 months; inflationary stress all through the economic system; problem in predicting demand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and excessive world demand for meals, notably meat. The pattern of customers cooking and consuming at residence extra typically as a result of pandemic led to elevated grocery store demand and better retail meals costs in 2020 and 2021, in comparison with pre-pandemic costs in 2019.”
Key Background
Not solely are People paying extra for Thanksgiving staples, they’re additionally having a tougher time discovering this stuff on the grocery retailer. Data from market analysis agency IRI discovered that within the week ending November 7 the in-stock charge for frozen complete turkeys was 22% decrease than the identical time final yr, whereas cranberry sauce, liquid gravy and pies have been 10%, 12% and 10% much less in inventory, respectively. Nonetheless, optimism stays that cabinets is not going to go absolutely empty, as spokespersons for main turkey suppliers Butterball and Cargill each expressed confidence to CNN that the turkey provide is not going to run dry for Thanksgiving.
Tangent
Thanksgiving 2021 could really feel extra regular than final yr’s vacation: 68% of People plan to spend this Thanksgiving with the identical quantity of individuals or extra in comparison with earlier than the pandemic, up from 46% from 2020, in line with a Monmouth College poll launched Tuesday.
Additional Studying
Thanksgiving items are running out of stock — but don’t panic (CNN)
Turkey Caught In Supply Chain: Bird Prices Are 20% Higher, 30% Harder To Find (Forbes)
Supply Chain May Not Be Impacting Consumers As Badly As Expected (Forbes)
