The United States is witnessing a shortage in eggs leading to a surge in the prices. The prices of eggs have increased cross several cities in the United States. According to a report by The New York Times, the reason of volatile egg prices is because of bird flu as well as inflation.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, while addressing to a question of a reporter, blamed former president Joe Biden for the surge in the prices of eggs.
“When Joe Biden was in the Oval Office or upstairs sleeping.. I’m not so sure.. egg prices increased 65 percent,” she said.
Bird flu, caused by the H5N1 virus, has infected or killed 136 million birds thus far. After the outbreak intensified in the country, roughly 10 percent of the nation’s egg-laying population — have been killed in just the last three months, to prevent the spread of the disease, New York Times reported.
Reportedly, it will take months before the supply of egg-laying chickens returns to the normal level of around 318 million which is roughly equivalent to one chicken per person.
Moreover, the drop in the number of egg-laying chickens has led to a sharp spike in wholesale egg prices. Grocery stores and restaurants are now paying around $7 for a dozen eggs — a record level, up from $2.25 last fall, New York Times reported.
Last week, United Egg Producers urged Congress and the new Trump administration to move quickly to form a national strategy to battle the bird flu. The body also demanded more funding for faster testing at state and federal levels and development of potential vaccines.
Meanwhile, federal agencies are monitoring the latest strain of avian influenza that is lethal to chickens and also has been found in cattle. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the risk to humans remains low, and that pasteurized milk products remain safe to consume.
The US agency maintains that eggs are also safe to eat, as long as they are cooked to appropriate temperatures to kill bacteria and viruses. However, the cost is likely to climb higher and gaps on store shelves are likely to grow, analysts warn, New York Times reported.
Prices expected to soar further
Although, Vice President JD Vance has maintained that egg prices will go down, it is reportedly expected to soar throughout the year. Vance recently said during an interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan that gas and grocery prices are expected to come down at some point. “Prices are going to come down, but it’s going to take a little bit of time,” Vance told Brennan. “The president has been president for all of five days. I think that in those five days, he’s accomplished more than Joe Biden did in four years.”
The prices of eggs are predicted to increase about 20% in 2025, compared to about 2.2% for overall food prices, as revealed by the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) price outlook. The USDA has said the reason for the soaring prices is bird flu outbreak which caused a strain in supply.
On January 3, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) reported that grocery stores were seeing record-high prices in retail markets across the nation because of the “significant outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial table egg layer flocks through December.” The virus had, in fact, affected over 136 million poultry across 50 US states by January 17 since January 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the reports, consumers may see a huge surge in egg prices from December. The average price of a dozen large, grade-A eggs was $4.15 in December, which was up from $3.65 in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics states. The Consumer Price Index says that the cost of eggs rose more than 36% year-over-year in December.
More than 145 million chickens, turkeys and other birds have been slaughtered since the current outbreak began, with the vast majority of them being egg-laying chickens, AP reported.
According to the AP report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has spent at least $1.14 billion compensating farmers for the birds they have had to kill. A similar number wasn’t immediately available for how much has been spent to aid dairies. USDA spokeswoman Shilo Weir said the department also spent more than $576 million on its own response. The prices of turkey, milk and chicken have also seen some pressure from bird flu, it added.
It is still not clear when the egg prices will go down. “No one can predict the future, but bird flu remains an ongoing threat to our egg farms, and egg farmers are working around the clock to protect their birds, replenish supply and keep those eggs coming,” Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, told USA TODAY recently.