November 28, 2024

 

US egg prices on the rise as holiday nears and supply tightens

 

Egg production in the United States is down and prices are higher as the holiday season approaches due to a persistent strain of H5N1, or avian influenza, a prominent industry group said.

 

More 73 million egg-laying hens in the country have been affected by the latest bird flu strain as of August, sending egg prices soaring this fall, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

 

Data released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed the weekly New York wholesale price of eggs stood at US$4.50 per dozen on November 8, continuing a surge from just over US$2 per dozen beginning in early October as available inventory dipped.

 

"Starting from a stable 216 cents per dozen in early October, prices began to climb steeply beginning on October 9," USDA said. "After climbing by 20 cents or more per day for more than a week, the increases began to ease and eventually leveled at 446 cents per dozen at the end of October."

 

The egg price increases began even before new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) were detected on October 15 and October 24.

 

It's likely the volatile prices for eggs will continue throughout the holiday season due to the continuing bird flu outbreaks, which are also adversely affecting supplies of turkeys as Thanksgiving looms, experts said.

 

"Avian influenza continues to be a problem," Farm Bureau economist Bernt Nelson said in a release. "We've had 3-and-a-half million birds affected this October. Egg layers and turkeys are still the greatest impacted by this."

 

Nelson added that 73 million egg-layers are affected overall, "and this has resulted in some volatility in egg prices. If we look at turkeys, we've had over 14 million turkeys affected by the virus. So, production for turkeys is down about 6% from last year."

 

Since March, there have nearly 500 detections of avian influenza in dairy herds in 16 states, with California home to 263 of the cases.

 

Reports of egg shortages in grocery stores have also surfaced, prompting a call for "immediate action" against HPAI from Rep. Ruben Gallego, who urged US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to issue emergency approvals of bovine and avian vaccines and mandate their use.

 

- UPI