Egg prices drop as demand 'sharply' falls among inflation-weary customers unwilling to shell out

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Saturday 15 March 2025 16:46 EDT


Egg prices dropped once again this month as bird flu outbreaks eased and demand fell, with consumers unwilling to shell out for the inflated prices, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Wholesale prices for a dozen eggs now average $4.15, down $2.70 from the week before, the USDA’s Egg Markets Overview from Friday found. In the last week of February, a dozen eggs averaged as high as $8.05. The reason for the reduced price is two-fold: decreased demand and fewer bird flu outbreaks.

As egg prices shot up, demand for them “sharply” declined over the past week, the department found. There were also “no significant outbreaks” of the virus in March. This combination has led to a dip in price, but that dip has not yet been reflected on store shelves, the USDA said.

“As shell eggs are becoming more available, the sense of urgency to cover supply needs has eased and many marketers are finding prices for spot market offerings are adjusting rapidly downward in their favor,” the report said. It’s not immediately clear if these reduced prices will stick around through Easter and Passover, during both of which eggs feature prominently. Easter is on April 20 and Passover begins on April 12 and ends on April 20.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/egg-prices-drop-demand-inflation-b2715877.html

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Price gouging was called out.

[msongs]

1. expect trumpty dumpty to brag on this shortly as proofed only he can fix "it" nt

[NotHardly]

19. Egg substitutions link below...

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/cooking-tips-tutorials/g33584750/egg-substitute/

[Polybius]

22. Nice link

The aquafaba one is interesting.

[Initech]

24. And the chuckle fucks on Fox will be swooning and kissing his ass.

His nightly interview with Hannity tonight...

[Walleye]

2. As I have said before, not so much supply and demand, but what the market will bear

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Well "the market bearing" directly impacts "demand"

But it is an artificial construct because just like happened over the years with high gasoline prices despite lower oil prices and no disruptions to refinery capacity, direct "call outs" of "price-gouging" and "price-fixing" will usually trigger the "Aw shucks, they figured it out" moment.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Eggs aren't the big...

Deal for Easter that they used to be either. I remember that using plastic eggs filled with candy became a thing because it was easy and not as messy as coloring eggs.

Sad though because that's how family traditions die in the name of capitalism and at the altar of our petroleum product addiction.

🍳🥚🍳

❤️

[Marthe48]

17. We always hid real eggs

But I learned the hard way to be sure to count how many you hide, especially if the Easter egg hunt was inside

I colored real eggs with my grandkids, but their egg hunts switched over to plastic eggs before they got too old to participate.

[SWBTATTReg]

31. I know what you mean about counting the number of real eggs you hide...we forgot a couple that we hid one

year, and then found them later. Boy, talk about smell! I was surprised that the critters didn't find the two eggs first!

[niyad]

30. There is alo the issue of food safety for the egg hunts, espcially in

warmer climates.

[synni]

5. I beg to differ

Egg prices just went UP this week in my area, to more than $7.00 per dozen.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. The OP article mentioned "wholesale prices" dropped

which is obviously not being reflected at the "retail" level in many cases... thus the price gouging/fixing accusation.

[NotHardly]

21. Egg substitution link below

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/cooking-tips-tutorials/g33584750/egg-substitute/

[Igel]

32. And down where I live.

$4.19/dozen at an HEB--a TX chain named for Howard E. Butt, its founder--but 3.98 at the Walmart across the street . That was Friday afternoon.

[maxrandb]

7. "No significant avian flu outbreaks in March"

See, just like COVID, it "will go away very quickly".

Rest assured subjects! Food safety is in the hands of Donnie Dipshit and RFK Jr.!

The Hawk-Tuah girl assured me of that on the internets.



I wouldn't recommend "over-easy" for the next 4 years.

[SWBTATTReg]

33. Yeah, and donnie dipshit said to shut up about the damn eggs. F*** him. He's already turning against people.

And we have, what so far, another 3 years and plus more of this garbage dump?

[Simeon Salus]

8. This was always disinformation

By giving the news media a small relatable item and exaggerating the importance of this normal price fluctuation, they gave outlets a drum upon which to bang. It was the sort of manufactured crisis The Heritage Foundation is so good at drumming up.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. "exaggerating the importance of this normal price fluctuation"

This wasn't a "normal price fluctuation".

Here in Philly, when we in PA were in the peak of the initial avian flu outbreak during 2022, the prices never got this high - IIRC, they got up to ~$3.69/dozen at my regular supermarket. In fact this past fall around Thanksgiving, right before the prices shot up, i was able to get 30 eggs for $4.99. Weeks later, a dozen was suddenly $7.99 here and 18 were $12.99.

What WAS "manufactured" were the intentional excessive prices that were being charged.

[Hotler]

10. An example of the power and leverage of consumer dollars. Spending cut backs and spending boycotts work.

The more people that participate, the greater the power and leverage.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. In this case, it was the "power and leverage" of the government threatening to investigate price gouging

DOJ investigating major egg producers amid soaring prices: Sources

By Katherine Faulders and Soo Youn
March 8, 2025, 12:38 PM


The Justice Department is in the early stages of investigating the major egg producers over soaring egg prices, source familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Department investigators are looking into whether the major egg companies are sharing information about supply and pricing, possibly contributing to price increases, the sources said. Egg producers, including the industry's trade association, have said the soaring prices are due to the avian flu. The investigation is being run out of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department and won't necessarily lead to any legal action.

Last month, a group of Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called on the administration to provide specifics on how it plans to lower food prices for families.

"To make food more affordable, you should look to the dominant food and grocery companies that have made record profits on the backs of working families who have had to pay higher prices," they wrote in the letter to President Donald Trump. "These companies often exploit crises like pandemics and avian flu outbreaks as an opportunity to raise prices beyond what is needed to cover rising costs."

(snip)

Just the "threat" or reporting of the "threat" triggered the change.

[Hotler]

14. I'm so sorry. Pardon me for being wrong. Parden me for being a little optimistic. I'll tame it down for you.

Have a nice day.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. I remember similar happening

when the gas prices were skyrocketing and Democrats were running the show. The threat (and actual carrying out) of hearings/investigations resulted in a sudden drop in prices because "they industry was caught red-handed".

Since I see these news stories, I am optimistic that the dam of gouging is finally going to break but what it took to get there is a damn shame.

[BrianTheEVGuy]

11. Eek

They won’t “shell” out? What a horrible yolk.

[True Blue American]

12. While shopping

At Krogers Friday the gentleman behind me bought 5 cartons of Free Range Eggs. He said they were worth every Penney as they were delicious.
For those who can buy a dozen chickens, rooster, chicken wire and feed , you are in business. The price for a dozen? $6.99, large, $7.99 extra large. They also had plenty of of the other, same price.

[PSPS]

15. There is no egg shortage at all in Canada

Why?

One reason is that Canada has many more egg farms each with about 25,000 laying hens on average. If one flock gets infected, the infection doesn't spread to many chickens.
In the US, there are fewer egg farms but they each have over 2 million laying hens on average. If one flock gets infected, a larger percentage of the total population of laying hens is lost.

[republianmushroom]

18. Good

[louis-t]

20. And THAT'S how you get prices down.

I refuse to pay that much for eggs so I do without. I refuse to pay $8.50 a gallon for OJ, so I stopped for a long time. I got a good deal on Tropicana ($2 a 48 oz bottle) so I mix with cranberry/pomegranate.

Oh and DOJ claimed they were going to "investigate" price gouging and suddenly, the price is coming down.

[Captain Zero]

23. Boycott into high prices increases inventory

It backs up their inventory and expiration dates and they have to lower the price to move out inventory.

I don't know how many times I have encouraged we do this en masse on ONE product.

Maybe I need a Xhitter account to announce my boycott of the month.

[MichMan]

25. Will demand now go back up since prices are lower?

[Bengus81]

26. Wholesale prices went down, BFD. So Kroger now makes even MORE..........

Just checked at my local store online,still the same price. But gas went up fifty cents in the last couple of days here in Wichita.

[twodogsbarking]

27. Shut up about egg prices.

priceless

[GreenWave]

28. Hens of the USA unite!

https://www.agdaily.com/livestock/poultry/usda-report-puts-hard-numbers-on-american-egg-production/

The average number of egg-laying hens fell to 375 million, a 2 percent drop from the previous year, while egg production declined 1 percent to 109 billion eggs. The total U.S. chicken inventory also decreased by 2 percent, reaching 514 million birds

Now check out the Trump response at the bottom:



»Related: USDA mistakenly fires key bird-flu response employees

[Ritabert]

29. I gave them up awhile ago

[mwb970]

34. Even at the highest prices I' ve seen, eggs seem like a pretty good deal.

Especially compared with other items, like coffee.

[Buddyzbuddy]

35. What price drop? I paid $13+ for 1 doz. Lg. on Thurs.

Mayonnaise was $6.49 for a 30 Oz. jar. Up from $4.99. A partially rotted head of lettuce was $1.89.
I suspect produce has been sitting unpicked too long due to labor shortage. Thanks to the Felon.
He has made America into Russia.

[Bluetus]

38. I'm not sure "price gouging" is he right term

Last edited Mon Mar 17, 2025, 09:05 AM - Edit history (1)

Yes, they are charging what they can get away with, but many of them had to destroy their flocks, so their costs are higher. But I guess the problem with that argument is that the people charging the high prices are, by definition, the ones who did NOT have to destroy their flocks. So never mind.

In my area, the shelves are still 90% empty with the only eggs available being $8/dz. Personally, I use packaged egg whites rather than shell eggs. I haven't been able to buy that for 3 months.

[Buddyzbuddy]

39. I understand the rationale for the price increase.

And I'm grateful to have access to a supply of eggs, and I'm sorry for anybody that doesn't have access whatever the price. My gripe is concerning statements crediting this Felon with a price drop.
1. It's not true, and 2. It implies that Biden chose not to do it or was incapable of solving the issue. This administration has proven they are willing to not test for the bird flu and not order the death of sick egg producing chickens if it will help the Felons polls. Remember, "don't test for Covid, and there will be lower numbers of Covid victims."

[intrepidity]

40. Interesting deep dive:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/10/demand-and-supply/#keep-cal-maine-and-carry-on

[Buddyzbuddy]

44. Born and raised here.

40 min to the beach, 30 min to a cabin in the snow, 45 min to Palm Springs, 3 hours from Vegas and 2 hours to Mexico. All by car. Bought my house 27 years ago for 127k, now valued at 750k, annual taxes $2200. I'm fortunate, retired and not leaving until they cook me til done.

[Jacson6]

36. There $15 here in Rural CA. n/t

[DallasNE]

37. "Dip Has Not Yet Been Reflected On Store Shelves"

An improper headline was selected. The consumer is not yet seeing a dip in prices. Price gouging prevails.

[BumRushDaShow]

42. The OP content notes WHOLESALE prices

We all know that RETAIL PRICE gouging continues.

[Aussie105]

41. Somewhat nonplussed myself . . .

No media coverage here in Australia to explain the shortage, yet eggs are expensive and limited in the shops here.

Big deal, I can cook well without them.
Home made pizza for last night's dinner came out well. No eggs were harmed in the process.

[Buddyzbuddy]

45. Eggs used to be a non expensive go to meal in my household.

Now I'm as careful not to drop them as a newborn baby. And I need an armed escort to get them to the car.

[TomJulie]

46. 18 Pk Jumbo...

Was $10.99 at our local grocer Saturday afternoon.