In recent months, the soaring price of eggs has made some average Americans feel like they can’t afford eggs anymore. Due to the shortage in supply, some grocery stores have implemented purchasing limits.
In El Monte, Los Angeles County, a reporter visited Sam’s Club on Tuesday morning to check egg prices. Like many other customers, upon entering the store, they headed straight to find eggs, only to discover the shelves were empty. About two months ago, a case of around 50 eggs at Sam’s Club cost less than $10.
The reporter also visited a Chinese grocery store and several American stores. In the Chinese supermarket, extra-large brown eggs, which are generally considered to have higher production costs, were priced at $11.99 per dozen, close to $1 per egg, with notices of limited purchase at the egg counter; large white eggs were also priced at $10.99 per dozen. In an American grocery store, medium-sized cage-free white eggs were $8.49 per dozen, while a pack of 60 non-cage-free white eggs was priced at $34.99.
Mr. Guo, a resident of Los Angeles County responsible for purchasing wholesale ingredients for his company’s cafeteria, was also surprised by the egg prices: “A year ago, a case of 200 eggs cost only $47, but by June or July, it had increased to $60-70; in the past few months, it has soared to $147, more than double.”
In Monterey Park, a city with a large Chinese population, Mr. Geng, who owns a restaurant, has found that dishes using eggs as the main ingredient barely break even, almost making no profits, mainly due to the significant increase in egg prices in recent months. “About three months ago, egg prices started to rise gradually, and now they have almost doubled,” he said.
Interestingly, as the prices of egg-based dishes at Mr. Geng’s restaurant have remained unchanged, customers seem to have discovered this secret, leading to a noticeable increase in orders for these dishes. He speculates that customers may find it cost-effective to eat eggs here. Mr. Geng plans to persevere for a while longer, stating, “We can’t operate without any profit; we need to make some adjustments too.”
The rise in egg prices is not only happening in California but also in the eastern state of New York. According to the New York Post, a restaurant in Manhattan recently announced a $0.50 surcharge for each egg sandwich. The manager explained that four months ago, less than $50 could buy 30 dozen eggs, but now it costs $227.
According to data from the Department of Agriculture at the end of January, the wholesale average trading price of white shell eggs in the U.S. has risen to $6.70 per dozen; in New York, it is $7.63, in the Midwest, it is $7.25; California has the highest price at $8.97.
The rise in egg prices is related to the current avian influenza outbreaks across the United States. Additionally, the winter holidays are a peak season for egg consumption, and seasonal factors also influence prices.
The Department of Agriculture believes that egg prices will only stabilize when egg farms and other egg producers replenish their stocks from the avian influenza outbreak.
According to the Department of Agriculture data, the U.S. produced 9.12 billion eggs last year, a 3% decrease from the previous year; the total production includes 7.83 billion consumption eggs and 1.29 billion hatching eggs. As of January this year, the total number of egg-laying hens was 369 million, a 2% decrease from 2023. Among them, 304 million hens produced eating/commercial eggs, and 61.2 million produced meat-type hatching eggs.
The highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak among the eating/commercial hens last November and December led to a reduction of 17.2 million egg-laying hens nationwide. And the trend of decreasing egg-laying hens continues.
The Department of Agriculture’s latest projection suggests that egg prices will increase by about 20% this year, with an overall food price increase of 2.2%.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the current avian influenza outbreak started in late March of last year, affecting 153 million poultry and 957 dairy herds nationwide as of the 5th of this month.