FOX Business’ Jeff Flock visits a Pennsylvania farm that rents chickens to customers looking to offset the high cost of eggs on “The Claman Countdown.”
Egg prices are on the rise, and industry experts expect these high costs to continue into 2025, especially if highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), also known as “bird flu,” persists.
Egg prices have been rising since 2023 due to a combination of seasonal price increases during the holidays and disruption to egg supplies due to bird flu, said Kevin Bergquist, Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute sector director.
Prices over the past year have “generally” remained higher than 2023 prices and even “often exceeded egg prices as of 2022, which is when HPAI really took over the egg market,” according to Bergquist.
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Wholesale egg prices, which jumped nearly 55% in November, don’t necessarily reflect consumer eggs Prices at the grocery store, Which can vary widely.
Egg racks carry a note apologizing to customers for the price increase after lower productivity caused by the death of poultry due to various diseases, in San Mateo, California, US on January 23, 2023. ((Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
According to the Consumer Price Index, grocery prices rose 0.5% in November, with the cost of four of the six major food groups rising. Whites showed the largest increase by a wide margin.
Prices of meat, poultry, fish and eggs rose 1.7% in November, but egg prices rose 8.2%.
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Dr. Michael Swanson, chief agricultural economist at the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, told Fox Business that consumer price is more important because it’s what the consumer sees.
“Many retailers are slow to adjust the prices of staples like milk and eggs that drive the consumer into the store,” Swanson said. “They will use this category to help with their overall pricing. Sometimes they take larger margins, other times they take negative margins in the short term to avoid upsetting the consumer with big changes.”
Before the widespread outbreak of bird flu In March 2022, flock numbers were at a level that supported lower egg prices, according to Bergquist. He noted that the wholesale price was less than $1.50 a dozen.
A customer shops for eggs at a Kroger grocery store on August 15, 2022 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Getty Images)
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However, the outbreak disrupted the market, sending egg prices to record levels in December 2022. The average price corrected to a lower level by 2023 as producers rebuild their herds.
Flock size was hampered again when bird flu resurfaced in late 2023 and into 2024, leaving egg markets in short supply, Bergquist said.
Producers are still unable to rebuild the total spawning flock with repeated outbreaks this year.
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