US egg prices hit a record high of $4.95 and are likely to keep climbing
US egg prices hit a record high of $4.95 and are likely to keep climbing
The latest monthly consumer price index showed that the average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in U.S. cities reached $4.95 in January.
Summary
Egg prices in the U.S. have reached a record high of $4.95 per dozen amid a severe bird flu outbreak that has led to the culling of millions of egg-laying chickens.
The shortage is compounded by rising feed, fuel, and labor costs, as well as increased demand and stricter cage-free regulations in several states.
Consumers face empty shelves, surcharges, and limited availability, with some areas pricing cartons at $10 or more.
Prices are expected to continue rising, especially with Easter demand.
You're viewing a single thread.
USDA's puts them at $7.74/dozen based on futures and project to get to nearly $10 this year. Given eggs can often be loss leaders, actual prices might not match contract prices everywhere, but stores trying to bring in customers and increasing other prices to compensate means looking directly at consumer egg prices might be misleading.
Interesting, I have already seen them for $10.48 a dozen
Yeah, local prices can very a lot. My local prices are pretty similar to the ones in this article. But some places have been over $10/dozen for some time.
I will say I am in a rural area, and am within a state of the largest poultry production. These numbers are insane for that, and makes me think this is being incorrectly reported somehow.
loss leaders
Hardly.
Curious when that cost is based on. Given future contracts are often purchased in advanced, those prices could reflect prices from months ago, when the wholesale market price was 1/3rd of the current price. Guess still not technically a loss leader if they price current inventory based on what they are paying for future inventory though.
Yes, given that this is Walmart (GV = "Great Value") I would assume the supply side prices are fixed. These are also not the "cage free" eggs that many states now require (several of which only began doing so in January 2025).
Same store, the retail price for a dozen large non-organic cage-free brown eggs is a few pennies higher than a dozen large white Eggland's Best (the latter usually being at least 2x the cost of the former). Those cage-free mandates are driving the supply of battery-cage eggs up (and thus the cost down, relatively speaking).
Given that Walmart runs its curbside/delivery department at a loss, they've shied away from running merchandise as loss leaders.