Egg Prices Are Crashing. Here’s Why

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

For months and months, the price of eggs was soaring. Now, they’re going splat.

As of last week, Midwest large eggs — the benchmark for eggs sold in their shells — cost just $0.94 per dozen in the wholesale market, according to Urner Barry, an independent price reporting agency. That’s a sharp fall from $5.46 per carton just six months ago. (In retail, prices are well above $1 per carton, though they too have been declining.)

Why the decline? It’s because of a reversal of supply-demand trends that caused prices to spike in the first place.

Last year, deadly avian flu wiped out a significant number of egg-laying hens, reducing egg supplies. On top of that, farmers had to deal with inflated feed and fuel costs.

The disruptions gave producers like Cal-Maine Foods, the largest US egg distributor, cover to hike prices way up and rake in huge profits.

But now supply is back on track: Though the industry braced for more cases of bird flu this year, the deadly virus seems to be under control. Meanwhile, demand hasn’t kept pace.

The wholesale price drop began in late March, according to Karyn Rispoli, senior egg market analyst at Urner Barry. Prices hit annual lows in early May and have stayed about steady since then, she said.

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“While the egg market in 2022 was dominated by the bird flu, the market this year has been dominated by its absence,” Rispoli told CNN.

As of early December, there were about 308 million hens laying eggs for consumption, down from approximately 328 million in December 2021, according to the US Department of Agriculture. But the number has been growing since then: As of April, there were 314 million layer hens, according to the USDA.

Source: wishtv.com