US egg prices soar as avian flu rips across farms

US egg costs are hovering to report highs as farmers are pressured to slaughter tens of millions of chickens in an try and halt the unfold of chicken flu, which has ripped via the nation’s poultry barns in latest months.

A dozen eggs reached greater than $8 in wholesale markets this week, greater than double the worth of a yr in the past and the best ever recorded, in accordance with Expana, a commodity value info service. Grocers together with Walmart and Kroger have begun to ration purchases in sure circumstances. The Waffle Home chain — a staple within the US south and Midwest — has tacked a surcharge of fifty cents an egg on to its dishes.

Provides of contemporary eggs are falling brief as farmers cull tens of millions of hens to regulate a variant of avian influenza that first emerged in a US business flock three years in the past.

Like petrol costs, eggs are a visual, if unstable, signpost of inflation to customers. The patron value index elevated by 3 per cent yr on yr in January, with an index for eggs climbing greater than 50 per cent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday. The typical US resident will eat about 270 eggs this yr, the US Division of Agriculture forecasts.

Egg costs even have political resonance and had been an assault line in final yr’s marketing campaign for the White Home. Then US vice-presidential candidate JD Vance in September stood earlier than a grocery store egg case to criticise the financial insurance policies of his predecessor Kamala Harris, when the US metropolis average value of enormous Grade A eggs was $3.82 a dozen, in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The worth was $4.95 in January. 

Democrats have now seized on the problem. “We went to get some eggs, and we are able to see the costs of those eggs had now jumped to about $8. However there have been no eggs,” Ted Lieu, a Democratic consultant from California, stated this week of a latest journey to the grocery retailer.

The highest egg retailers are Walmart, Costco, Kroger, Albertsons and Aldi, in accordance with Numerator. A majority — 55 per cent — of customers have seen shortages or out-of-stock eggs at native shops, the market analysis agency stated. 

Chains together with Kroger, Aldi and Walmart have imposed restrictions on purchases, at sure areas or in sure package deal sizes.

“Though provide could be very tight, we’re working with suppliers to try to assist meet buyer demand, whereas striving to maintain costs as little as potential,” stated Walmart, which is limiting purchases of 60-count cartons to 2 per go to.

Cal-Maine Meals, the most important US producer and distributor of contemporary shell eggs, stated demand was outpacing provide because it reported quarterly gross revenue of $356mn, a fourfold improve from a yr earlier than.

“With out query, now we have lately confronted vital challenges inside our firm and all the egg business because of the ongoing outbreaks” of avian influenza, Sherman Miller, chief government, stated final month. 

Farmers have misplaced about 46mn laying hens previously 4 months, or 15 per cent of a nationwide flock of 304mn, stated Karyn Rispoli, managing editor at Expana. “Whereas bird flu has come and gone in waves over the previous few years, this present outbreak is essentially the most extreme but, with no indicators of slowing,” she stated. 

Gino Lorenzoni, affiliate professor of poultry sciences and avian well being at Penn State College, stated the virus is usually unfold from farm to farm by wild birds. Staff coming into contact with their droppings can carry it right into a rooster barn on their boots.

As soon as a single case is detected, a whole flock have to be culled.  

“The virus could be very lethal,” Lorenzoni stated, however the business tries “to get there very quick and kill the animals earlier than the virus has an opportunity to unfold to different services”. 

Egg costs have risen not solely as a result of the flock of laying hens had declined, however as a result of enhanced biosecurity measures resembling disposable coveralls, booties and hairnets and enhanced disinfection protocols had been driving up working prices on farms, he stated. 

As properly, market demand for cage-free eggs had been rising prices, as every barn comprises fewer animals, Lorenzoni stated. 

The USDA this week raised its forecast for the common wholesale value of Grade A eggs to $4.44 a dozen for 2025, up by greater than half from its projection in January. The division projected US hens will lay 8.96bn dozen eggs this yr, chopping its outlook from final month.

Costs have remained sturdy partially due to stable demand over the winter holidays, stated Amy Smith, vice-president at Superior Financial Options, a meals and agriculture consultancy. Extreme winter storms within the south-east final month led households to replenish, whereas customers who’re taking standard GLP-1 weight-loss medication have been shifting their diets in the direction of proteins.

Supermarkets have in some circumstances saved their retail egg value under the wholesale value as a loss chief, to draw prospects to shops, stated Smith and at Expana’s Rispoli. 

“Whereas some value will increase have been handed via, they haven’t been vital sufficient to curb shopper curiosity,” Rispoli stated.