What Egg Customers Should Know about Egg Pricing and Availability
America’s egg farmers have an unwavering commitment to producing safe, wholesome, quality eggs and egg products for their retail, foodservice and manufacturing customers. Affordable food matters to everyone – it’s important to consumers, and it’s important to our egg farmers’ customers. While everyone is feeling the pressure of increased costs in food, thanks to their nutritional, functional and many other benefits, eggs remain a great value. America’s egg farmers are doing everything they can to keep costs down and orders filled so that our partners across channels can continue to meet consumer and business needs.
Increased egg prices stem back to many factors, including highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), general inflation and increased costs of inputs such as feed, labor, fuel and packaging – all of which affect the farmers’ cost of production. The good news is that egg farms are recovering quickly, and egg farmers across the U.S. are committed to doing all that is possible to safeguard the food supply and ensure that eggs and egg products continue to be readily available. Read more about egg farmers’ response to this situation below.
Background
Following the bird flu outbreak in 2015, America’s egg farmers greatly increased and enhanced biosecurity on egg farms. Despite countless biosecurity measures to protect egg-laying hens, HPAI was detected on several egg farms throughout the country in 2022, resulting in the loss of more than 42 million egg-laying hens, as well as birds on commercial broiler and turkey farms. Cases in 2022 differ from those in 2015, as there has been little to no lateral spread between farms in the past year. Experts agree that current cases of bird flu are being spread by wild birds and waterfowl, which carry the virus onto farms.
The Egg Industry is Recovering
Egg farms impacted by the 2022 HPAI outbreak have recovered much faster than those impacted in 2015 thanks to rigorous planning and preparedness, coupled with strong relationships with federal and state authorities. In fact, most of the farms that were affected in the past year have recovered and resumed production, with our national flock only down by about 5% today. Although, with more than 300 million egg-laying hens across the United States, our overall supply remains robust, and AEB is supporting its members throughout the process of recovery.
Farmers and industry leaders are working to preserve not only the reputation of eggs and egg production, but to also maximize stability within the egg supply and maintain strong consumer confidence in eggs and egg products. Many egg farmers are working together to help manage intermittent supply issues – there is a shared commitment to doing what is needed to support their customers at this time.
About Egg Pricing and Availability
America’s egg farmers are doing everything they can to keep costs down and supply strong so our retail, foodservice and manufacturing partners can continue business. Many experts who follow food economics and egg market pricing have predicted that prices will come down, and in fact, wholesale prices are decreasing in recent weeks as holiday demand has passed. Egg farmers are hopeful that conditions will normalize, but it is important to note that even as peak demand drops, farmers are still facing higher input costs due largely to overall inflation. It is important to know that any low-stocks or shortages are sporadic and shouldn’t last long. Egg farmers are working around the clock to keep their customers in retail, foodservice and manufacturing well supplied with the eggs they vitally need.
The Value of Eggs
Even in this time of higher prices, the nutrition and protein attributes of eggs mean that eggs remain a great value. Eggs are a vital ingredient and feature countless functional benefits. Eggs are in more than 90% of U.S. households, and as a staple ingredient, eggs will remain an essential part of daily nutrition needs for Americans. AEB’s mission is, and will always be, to support America’s egg farmers in providing safe and nutritious eggs for their customers and consumers and continuing to grow demand for eggs and egg products.
Thank you for trusting America’s egg farmers to produce your eggs.
For further assistance, please contact AEB’s director of food chain outreach, Dana Lawnzack, at dlawnzack@aeb.org.
