Egg prices rise due to avian flu epidemic and rising inflation

The price of a dozen eggs has just broken a record, surpassing 2023. On Wednesday, January 12, the US authorities published new consumer price indices. The price of twelve category A eggs, one of the best qualities, was $4.95 on average in American cities, compared to $2.52 a year ago. In a month, the index rose 15.2%, compared to just 0.4% for food products. Prices can vary from city to city and store to store.

This increase is weighing on consumers. “I recently went to the supermarket. A dozen brown eggs cost $9. Out of a budget of 100 dollars, nine go in eggs, and meat costs between 10 and 20 dollars. So that reduces the budget, and now I only buy 12 eggs, whereas before, it was 36. Because of the price, I no longer buy eggs every week. Sometimes I go several weeks without eggs,” Bre explains. These prices are decreased in egg production due to avian influenza.

Avian flu circulates on farms.

For three years, cases of the virus have been detected on farms. The hens die or are slaughtered. The number of contaminations continues to increase. It quadrupled between October and December last year, with more than 18 million birds infected in December.

Recent climate catastrophes haven’t helped: Hurricanes in the Southeast and fires in California have disrupted the migrations of wild birds that spread the virus. And all these contaminations have reduced the number of chickens. This is causing significant significance in supermarkets, resulting in price hikes and images of empty shelves and boxes of eggs stolen for resale.

Abusive practices by companies

Opinions differ about Donald Trump’s possible price drop. But Joe, a Republican, says, “You have to give the president more time. Egg prices were already high before Donald Trump came along. He has only been President for three weeks. What have you been able to do in three weeks? It has increased profits. Has he caused it? No, it was already there before.”

But while the shortage is undeniable, there is also the issue of price gouging: companies that raise prices to increase their margins. According to Farm Action, as of 2020, five companies control 36% and 40% of the country’s laying hen farms. According to the same report, large groups have increased their profit margins by up to 40% on the price of a dozen eggs in 2022 and 2023 based on avian flu and inflation. And Donald Trump has not proposed any measures to combat it.