The prices of American eggs are rising to record high, as farmers are forced to slaughter millions of chickens in an attempt to stop the spread of bird flu, which has been breaking through state poultry stables in recent months.
A dozen eggs have reached more than $ 8 this week in wholesale markets, which is more than twice over a year and the highest ever recorded, according to Expan, the information on the price of the commodity prices. Foods, including Walmart and Kroger, began to buy in certain cases. The Waffle House chain – the main person in the south and middle west of the US – filed an extra 50 cents, an egg to his dishes.
The supply of fresh eggs decay because farmers pull millions of chickens to control the bird flu variant that first appeared in the American commercial flock three years ago.
Like gasoline prices, eggs are visible, if unstable, the inscription of inflation to consumers. Consumer prices index rose for 3 percent From year to January, with an egg index that goes up more than 50 percent, the Office of Statistics of Labor reported on Wednesday. The average American resident will eat about 270 eggs this year, the predictions of the US Ministry of Agriculture.
Egg prices also have a political resonance and were a line of attacks in last year’s White House campaign. At that time, US Vice President JD Vance Standed in September in front of a supermarket egg case to criticize the economic policy of his predecessor Kamal Harris, when he is an American city average The price of big eggs from class A was $ 3.82 a dozen, according to the job statistics. The price was $ 4.95 in January.
Democrats have now seized on that. “We went for a little egg and we can see that the prices of these eggs have now jumped at about $ 8. But there was no egg,” said Ted Lieu, a democratic representative from California, this week’s recent trip to the store.
Top egg sellers are Walmart, Costco, Koger, Albertson and Aldi, according to the numerator. Most-55 percent of the staff have noticed shortages or local sellers from the shares, the market research company said.
The chains, including Kroger, Aldi and Walmart, have imposed limitations for buying, in certain locations or in certain packages of the package.
“Although the supply is very tight, we cooperate with suppliers to try to help satisfy the demand of customers, while trying to keep as low as possible,” said Walmart, limiting the purchase of cardboard of 60 numbers on two per visit.
Cal-Maine Foods, the largest American manufacturer and distributor of fresh eggs, said demand exceeds the offer because it has informed a three-month gross profit of $ 356 million, which is a fourfold increase compared to the year before.
“We have no doubt recently faced significant challenges in our company and the entire egg industry because of current epidemics,” Sherman Miller, Sherman Miller, Executive Director said last month.
Farmers have lost about 46 million or 15 percent of a national flock of 304 million in the last four months, said Karyn Rispoli, editor in Expani. “While bird flu He came and went to the waves in the last few years, this current epidemic is the hardest so far, without signs of slowing, “she said.
Gino Lorenzoni, an associate professor for poultry sciences and bird health at Penn State University, said the virus usually spreads from a farm on a wild bird. Workers who come in contact with their changes can carry it in chicken stalls on boots.
Once one case is discovered, the whole flock must be rejected.
“The virus is very deadly,” Lorenzoni said, but the industry is trying to “get there quickly and kill animals before the virus has the opportunity to expand to other objects.”
The prices of eggs increased not only because the flock of the delay chickens was declining, but also because they were improved biological security measures such as available blankets, boots and hair and improved disinfecting protocols increased operational costs on the farms, he said.
Also, the demand for eggs without a cage increased costs, because each barn contains fewer animals, Lorenzoni said.
USDA has raised its own this week prognosis For the average wholesale price of eggs and eggs and up to $ 4.44 a dozen for 2025, which is more than half of its screening in January. The department predicted that US chickens would laid 8.96 billion dozens of eggs this year, reducing its prospects from last month.
Prices have been partly strong due to solid demand during the winter holidays, said Amy Smith, Vice -President at Advanced Economic Solutions, food and agriculture counseling. Severe winter storms to the southeast last month led to households to storage, while consumers taking popular remedies for weight loss GLP-1 are switching their diet to protein.
In some cases, supermarkets retained their retail price of eggs below the wholesale price as a loss leader to attract customers to stores, Smith said at EXPANA’s Rispoli.
“Although some increased price was carried out, they were not significant enough to suppress the consumer interest,” Rispoli said.
