Egg Industry Coming Up Short on Production, Egg Prices Will Continue to Remain High

Consumers have been hit with sticker shock when shopping for eggs over the past few months. Grocery store prices have doubled and even tripled, and some stores have run out of eggs or put limits on how many can be purchased. Avian Flu is only part of the reason according to a recently released report.

The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak over the past six months has resulted in about one-third of the entire commercial egg laying flock in the U.S. being euthanized.

Brian Earnest, economist with CoBank, which is part of the Farm Credit System, says this came at a time when consumer demand for eggs was increasing.

“Consumer concerns about cholesterol in egg yolks went away; and all of a sudden, eggs were considered healthy,” said Earnest.

He added that we have seen restaurants and fast-food chains focus on breakfast and feature new products containing eggs.

In the past 10 years, the annual per-person consumption of eggs has jumped dramatically.

“In 2014 the average American consumed about 250 eggs per year. By 2019 that had jumped to 300 eggs per person a year,” said Earnest.

At the same time, consumers started demanding more cage free eggs, which forced producers to make massive changes to their production system.

“Many corporations started telling consumers they would start sourcing more cage free eggs. Currently, nine states have passed laws requiring production of cage free eggs,” said Earnest.

The industry goal was to be converted to cage free by 2025. Earnest said the massive capital investment needed to make this conversion along with the outbreak of HPAI has resulted in the industry not reaching that goal, “According to USDA figures, we are running about 100 million eggs short.”

He expects retail egg prices to continue to remain relatively high as the industry continues to struggle with HPAI.

Long gone are the days where eggs could regularly be found for $1.00 per dozen. During 2024, prices consumers paid for eggs rose to $3.17 per dozen on average, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, up 13 percent year over year. Prices were highest in December, averaging $4.15 per dozen, which was up 65 percent.

The CoBank report concluded that “with production hampered by HPAI and elevated egg use tied to Easter promotions just around the corner, it seems all but inevitable that prices will remain elevated for the foreseeable future.”

CLICK BELOW to learn more about the challenges facing the egg production industry in the latest episode of the WTF? (What’s Threading Farmers?) Podcast hosted by Gary Truitt.