America’s Great Ovulation is laid bare in this chart, showing how the price of a dozen rose from less than $2 to more than $4 in 12 months.
The nationwide average price for a dozen large Grade A eggs rose to $4.25 in December — up nearly 140% from $1.79 in the same month last year.
The price rose by more than a fifth in the last month — a dozen eggs cost an average of $3.50 in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
More than 40 million laying hens were killed in the US last year due to bird flu, marking the worst outbreak on record. The bird pandemic, coupled with rising feed, fuel and labor costs, has hit farmers hard.
The nationwide average price for a dozen large Grade A eggs rose to $4.25 in December — up nearly 140% from $1.79 in the same month last year. The price rose by more than a fifth in the last month — a dozen eggs cost an average of $3.50 in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
An out-of-stock egg sign is seen at a grocery store in Glenview, Illinois, on January 10
A shopper checks eggs before shopping at an Illinois grocery store last week. If you want to buy a dozen eggs these days, you have to reckon with rising prices
Staggering prices for the staple are hitting families, as well as restaurants, cafes and bakeries that rely heavily on eggs.
Amid widespread inflation, food prices rose 10.4 percent overall in December, falling two percentage points from the previous month as gas prices softened and overall costs fell slightly.
BIRD FLU: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
What is it? As far as we know, bird flu is the source of all human flu.
It often happens to another animal, like a pig, as it mutates and adapts to infect us.
Wild birds are carriers, particularly through migration.
As they band together to reproduce, the virus spreads quickly and is then carried to other parts of the world.
New strains tend to first appear in Asia, from where more than 60 species of shorebirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl, including plovers, snipes, and ducks, make their way to Alaska to breed and mix with various migratory birds from the Americas . Others go west and infect European species.
Can it infect people? Yes, but since 2003 only 860 people from 18 countries have contracted H5N1 worldwide.
The risk for humans was classified as “low”.
But people are being urged not to touch sick or dead birds because the virus is deadly, killing 53 percent of the people it infects.
Should I be concerned? Not particularly.
Poultry farmers and people who handle wild birds are most at risk.
Scientists say there’s a tiny chance that a dual infection of bird flu and seasonal flu could allow the current strain of bird flu to adapt to spread between humans, but it remains highly unlikely.
However, egg prices remain significantly higher for other foods — even more so than chicken or turkey — because bird flu has hit egg farmers harder.
More than 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered last year to fight the virus were egg-laying chickens, including some farms with more than a million birds each in big egg-producing states like Iowa.
Everyone who approaches the egg crate at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Omaha “has a sour face,” said shopper Nancy Stom.
But despite the cost increases, eggs remain relatively cheap compared to other proteins like chicken or beef, with a pound of chicken breast averaging $4.35 in December and a pound of ground beef averaging $4.80.
“It’s still an inexpensive meal,” Stom said. But the 70-year-old said that at these prices, she would watch her eggs more closely in the fridge and try not to let them spoil before they get used to it.
If prices stay this high, Kelly Fischer said she’ll start thinking more seriously about building a backyard chicken coop in Chicago because everyone in her family eats eggs.
“We (with neighbors) are thinking about building a chicken coop behind our houses, so I’m hoping at some point not to buy them and have my own eggs, and I think the cost will help a bit,” said the 46- year-old elementary school teacher shopping at HarvesTime Foods on the north side of town. “For me, it’s more about the impact on the environment and trying to shop locally.”
In some places it can even be difficult to find eggs on the shelves. But overall egg stocks are holding up because the overall flock has declined only about 5% from its normal size of about 320 million hens. Farmers have been working to replace their herds as quickly as possible following an outbreak.
Jakob Werner, 18, said he tries to find the cheapest eggs he can because he eats five or six of them a day while trying to gain weight and build muscle.
“For a while I just stopped eating eggs because they got more expensive. But since they’re my favorite food, I ended up going back to them,” said Werner, who lives in Chicago. “I think I just stopped eating eggs for a few months and waited for the price to go down. It never did. So I will buy again now.”
Purdue University agricultural economist Jayson Lusk said he believes the bird flu outbreak is the biggest driver of price hikes. Unlike previous years, the virus persisted throughout the summer and saw a resurgence in infection of egg and poultry farms last fall.
“Avian flu isn’t the only factor, but I think it’s the main reason for what we’re seeing right now,” Lusk said.
More than 40 million laying hens were killed in the US last year due to bird flu, marking the worst outbreak on record. The bird pandemic, coupled with rising feed, fuel and labor costs, has hit farmers hard
But American Egg Board trade group president and CEO Emily Metz said she believes any cost hikes farmers have faced over the past year were a bigger factor in price increases than bird flu.
“If you look at fuel costs, feed costs go up by up to 60%, labor costs, packaging costs — all of that…these are much, much bigger factors than bird flu for sure,” Metz said.
Jada Thomson, an agricultural economist at the University of Arkansas, said there could be some easing in egg prices over the next few months as egg farmers have steadily replaced flocks lost to bird flu last year and demand is now set to ease somewhat , as people are getting done with their holiday baking.
But she said bird flu remains a wild card that could still send prices skyrocketing if egg farms have major outbreaks.
Farmers are doing everything they can to limit the spread, but the disease is easily transmitted by migrating wild birds and the virus can be picked up on clothing or vehicles.
“But there are some things that are out of our control,” Thompson said. “Sometimes you can’t control nature.”
Food producers and restaurants are suffering because it’s difficult to find good substitutes for eggs in their recipes.
Any drop in egg prices would be welcome at Patti Stobaugh’s two restaurants and two bakeries in Conway and Russelville, Arkansas, since all of their ingredients and supplies are more expensive these days.
For some of her baked goods, Stobaugh has switched to a frozen egg product, which isn’t quite as expensive, but she still buys eggs for all the breakfasts she serves.
A box of 15 dozen eggs has gone from $36 to $86 in the last year, but flour, butter, chicken, and anything else she buys are more expensive, too. Stobaugh said it made her “alert over every little object.”
It’s already increased its prices by 8 percent over the past year, and it may have to increase them again soon.
It’s a delicate balance between trying not to make it too expensive for people to eat out and hurting sales, but she doesn’t have much choice as she tries to provide for her 175 employees.
“We have many employees who work for us and we are responsible for the weekly payroll and supporting their families. We take that very seriously. But it was certainly tough,” Stobaugh said.