Production Issues Causing Egg Price Spike, Just In Time For Easter Holiday

Like with every other food product, eggs are suffering from massive price increases. These jumps are due to a mix of:

• Inflation

• Supply chain issues

• Russia’s war with Ukraine

• A recent bird flu outbreak.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there is a 7.5% increase in food prices from February 2021 to February 2022 – the biggest jump that the U.S. has seen since 1981. This change is affecting all types of food production, including chicken and eggs.

Feeding Chickens Comes At A (Big) Price

The jump in prices isn't necessarily because of a high demand for eggs, though that is often a problem during the Easter season. Some of the blame for egg prices increasing is more so due to feed costs. Higher prices for feed ingredients, such as corn, soybean and wheat, mean farmers have to charge more.

These feed price increases can be traced back to Ukraine and Russia. Once again, we are seeing serious implications for agriculture due to their conflict. Both countries are major exporters of wheat, corn, seed oils and other animal feed ingredients.

A Vox article investigated the increase of price in feed, interviewing the vice president of business development at an egg farm in Indiana. The VP explained that about 60 to 70 percent of the production of an egg is feed-related. Additionally, the cost of that feed has gone up between 30 and 50 percent, with a lot of the feed being made of corn and soybean meal.

The price increase for production is happening at all levels. Once again, the Russia/Ukraine conflict comes into play as fuel prices are driven upward. This fuel is still needed to run the freights that carry eggs to businesses. According to Vox, freight price increases can lead to an extra 10 cents for a dozen eggs. And that’s just one aspect.

Egg price notice from a Stop & Shop in Staten Island, NY (Source: Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)

Bird Flu Outbreak

The consequences of the Russia/Ukraine conflict have already been felt for the last month, but there’s another newer threat to egg production. During the week of March 28th, almost 7 million chickens and turkeys who would’ve been used for poultry and egg production were euthanized due to an outbreak of avian influenza. HPAI, or highly pathogenic avian influenza, is an extremely contagious and often fatal infection that poses a huge risk to farmers who rely on chickens for profit. In a Milling & Baking News article, it was noted that experts think the current HPAI strain might be five times more contagious than previous strains, a major cause for concern for producers and consumers alike.

With Easter On Its Way…

It isn’t uncommon to see some type of increase in the price of eggs this time of year. March and April activities, such as easter egg dying, frequently mean a higher demand during that season.

While there may not be shortages in the sense that it will be hard to find eggs at the store, Americans can certainly expect prices to be higher, especially for chickens raised cage-free or with more expensive feeding methods. Cage free eggs have always been more expensive, with an estimated 36% higher price tag than conventionally-produced eggs. But, with data showing a dozen large Grade A eggs already jumping from $1.60 per dozen a year ago to $2.01 today, free-range may not be in many Americans’ grocery budget for the Easter season.