Christmas dinner cannot escape inflation, turkey and duck are expensive this year in the Netherlands

Duck Meat

Turkey Meat

Netherlands

Published Dec 11, 2022

Tridge summary

Meat on the table at Christmas dinner will be more expensive this year. But poulterers, butchers and wholesaler Sligro expect people to cut back little. Furthermore, turkeys and roe deer are scarce this year and the relatively affordable deer is popular. "The Christmas dinner cannot escape inflation either," says Wilco Jansen of Sligro. When it comes to rabbit meat, turkey and duck, for example, prices have risen sharply in recent months due to costs for feed and energy at farmers and slaughterhouses. "Fish is also more expensive due to the high fuel costs of fishermen." "For wild meat, prices are rising less rapidly," says Thomas van Meel, poulterer and game seller in Amsterdam. "Hunters don't have to deal with feed or stables, so those costs hardly go up. Where a deer steak was always more expensive than tournedos, they are now just as expensive. That makes venison extra popular." In addition to inflation, there are other challenges that put some pressure on the presence of meat at the Christmas table.

Original content

For example, bird flu, with culls and confinement requirements, is causing fewer wild birds and there are culls at turkey farms. Furthermore, the African swine flu threatens the supply of meat from Eastern Europe. This also influences prices of Dutch boar. Pheasants from England are also more expensive due to Brexit. Domestic ducks from France are less available due to the avian flu. "As a result, wild ducks are now even cheaper than domestic ones," says Van Meel. Wolf competes with hunters in the Veluwe And the wolf may also have some influence on the price of game. "The wolf makes it much less easy for hunters to get wild meat from the Veluwe," says Herman ter Weele, an industry recognized master butcher and hunter in Oene in Gelderland. "Apart from the animals that the wolf kills, for example many deer, animals are also more skittish and cautious due to its presence." "And wild boars are also more difficult to shoot this year. Because they can currently get acorns so easily ...

Source: Nu