Wholesale egg prices in the United States have attained unparalleled levels on the back of a widely spreading outbreak of bird flu among laying hens that is drastically reducing supply. A report from Reuters, citing data from commodity firm Expana, showed the wholesale price for large eggs leaped to $5.77 per dozen in the Midwest on Dec. 18-an unbelievable 150% spike over the same period last year and higher than the $5.46 record reached back in December 2022.
Retail prices, too, have surged upwards: the average for a dozen eggs reached over $3.60 in November from $2.50 at the start of the year. The average was $3.80 in September. Prices are rising even more radically in California, where strict laws forbid farmers to house hens in cages. In California, wholesale egg prices have shot up as high as $8.85 a dozen, according to Expana.
The price surge has given huge profits to farmers that evaded the outbreaks of bird flu and were not locked into long-term pricing arrangements that some large retailers use in efforts to keep costs low. Severe damage to the population of laying hens from the bird flu is driving these increased prices. This outbreak, which first began in 2022, cost the country almost 123 million chickens, turkeys, and other poultry in 49 states.
In fact, 35 million commercial egg-laying hens have been culled due to bird flu since the start of the year; nearly half of those cases have been reported in the last three months.
On the human health front, the federal government reported 61 people have been infected with bird flu in the US this year. While most cases have been mild, officials last week confirmed a severe case in Louisiana, in which a patient was hospitalized in critical condition after suspected contact with an infected backyard flock.
