Chickens may not be able to fly very far, but the price of eggs is rising.
The ongoing outbreak of bird flu, combined with rising feed, fuel and labor costs, has caused US egg prices to double over the past year, and led to many sticker shocks in grocery aisles.
The national average price for a dozen eggs reached $3.59 in November, up from $1.72 a year earlier, according to the latest government data. That puts stress on consumer budgets and the bottom lines of restaurants, bakeries and other food producers that rely heavily on eggs.
Grocery prices that rose 12% in November led to higher inflation, although overall price increases moderated in the fall as gas prices fell.
But egg prices have risen more than other foods – even more than chicken or turkey – because egg farmers are more vulnerable to bird flu. More than 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered last year to control the virus were egg-laying hens, including some farms with more than a million birds in major egg-producing states like Iowa.
Everyone who approaches the case of eggs at the Hy-Vee grocery store in Omaha, “has a sour face,” said shopper Nancy Stom.
But despite the rising costs, eggs remain relatively cheap compared to the price of other proteins like chicken or beef, with a kilogram of chicken breast averaging $4.42 in November and a kilogram of beef selling for $4.85, according to the Bureau. of Labor Statistics.
“It’s still a cheap meal,” Stom said. But the 70-year-old said that at that price, he would watch his eggs more closely in the fridge and try to prevent them from spoiling before using them.
If prices stay high, Kelly Fischer says she’ll seriously consider building a chicken coop in her Chicago backyard because her whole family eats eggs.
“We (with my neighbors) are planning to build a chicken coop at the back of the house, so I hope not to buy it and have my own eggs and I think the cost is low,” said the 46-year-old public school teacher. while shopping at HarvestsTime Foods on the north side of town. “For me, it’s more about environmental impact and trying to buy locally.”
In some places, it may be difficult to find eggs on the shelf. But the overall egg supply is still stable as the number is only down about 5% from the normal size of about 320 million hens. Farmers have been working to replace sheep as soon as possible after the outbreak.
Jakob Werner, 18, said he tries to find the cheapest eggs because he eats five or six a day while trying to gain weight and build muscle.
“Now, I just stopped eating eggs because the price is more expensive. But because they are my favorite food, I finally came back,” said Werner, who lives in Chicago. “So I thought for a few months I just stopped eating eggs, waiting for the price down. It was never. So now I buy it again.”
Purdue University agricultural economist Jayson Lusk said the bird flu outbreak was the biggest driver of the price increase. Unlike previous years, the virus persisted through the summer and re-emerged last fall infecting egg and poultry farms.
“Bird flu isn’t the only factor, but in my view, it’s the main driver of what we’re experiencing right now,” Lusk said.
But the president and CEO of the trade group American Egg Board, Emily Metz, said all the cost increases farmers faced last year were a bigger factor in price increases than bird flu.
“When you see fuel costs go up, and you see feed costs go up by 60%, labor costs, packaging costs – everything … that’s a bigger factor than bird flu,” Metz said.
Jada Thomson, an agricultural economist at the University of Arkansas, said there is some relief coming to egg prices in the next few months as egg farmers continue to replace the flocks lost to last year’s bird flu and demand will slow down now because of them. done with holiday baking.
But he said bird flu remains a wildcard that could still drive prices higher if there is a larger outbreak at egg farms.
Farmers are doing everything they can to limit the spread, but the disease spreads easily through the migration of wild birds and the virus can be spread on clothing or vehicles.
“But there are some things we can’t control,” Thompson said. “Sometimes you can’t control nature.”
Food manufacturers and restaurants are suffering from the difficulty of finding good egg substitutes in their recipes.
Any reduction in the price of eggs would be welcome at Patti Stobaugh’s two restaurants and two bakeries in Conway and Russelville, Arkansas, as all ingredients and supplies are more expensive now. For some of her baked goods, Stobaugh has switched to a less expensive frozen egg product, but she still buys eggs for all the breakfasts she serves.
A case of 15 dozen eggs from $ 36 to $ 86 last year, but the flour, butter, chicken and everything else is more expensive. Stobaugh said he was “very vigilant about every little thing.”
They have increased their prices by 8% in the past year, and they may need to increase again. It’s a delicate balance of trying not to be too expensive for people to eat out and hurt sales, but he doesn’t have much choice when trying to provide for 175 employees.
“We have many employees who work for us and we are responsible for making a paycheck every week and supporting their families. We take that very seriously. But it’s always difficult,” said Stobaugh.
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