Egg Prices Soar Ahead of Holiday Season: Why?

Egg prices have soared ahead of the holiday season, and shoppers are scrambling to keep up.

The average wholesale price for a dozen eggs in the United States was up more than 150% from a year ago and more than 18% higher than just the previous week, according to data from Trading Economics.

NerdWallet reported that in California, the price for large, white cage-free eggs was $8.19 per dozen for the week of Dec. 20, 2024, up from $5.21 last month, per data from the United States Department of Agriculture. 

According to The New York Times, the bird flu outbreak has taken its toll on egg-laying hens. This has, in turn, caused egg prices to skyrocket just in time for holiday meal-prepping.

“You have shocks to supply and increase to demand,” said David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University. “That’s a recipe for prices to go up — in this case quite significantly.”

Egg production is a “complex system,” added Amy Hagerman, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University. She believes that the bird flu outbreak “creates added volatility into that supply chain, which makes it very difficult to break apart how much of the price increase is associated with true cost increase in the supply chain.”

Wild swings in egg prices have roiled the market over the past few years. After hitting a record high at the end of 2022, prices crashed before climbing again at the end of last year.    

How Much of the Shift in Egg Prices Has To Do With Bird Flu?

Egg prices jump with bird flu spreading before holidays https://t.co/mzFZqa5ywe

— The Hill (@thehill) December 21, 2024

Avian influenza has been a big reason for higher egg prices. The current bird flu outbreak began in February 2022 and has led to the slaughter of more than 111 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens.

However, other factors could be contributing to the recent spike in egg prices, making it harder for the average consumer to keep up with the cost shift. Climate change and extreme weather are also part of the reason for the price increase.

Per PBS News, Emily Metz, the Egg Board’s president and chief executive officer, explained, “We have birds that have been displaced by hurricanes, by wildfires, and those birds are now circulating in areas that they otherwise might not circulate or at times of the year that they otherwise may not be circulating. And those are all new variables that our farmers are having to deal with.”

“The holidays are always the highest retail sales season of the year because if you think about your holidays, your baking, your cooking, you’re entertaining, all of those require extra eggs,” Metz concluded.

As egg prices continue to rise, people are finding more creative ways to substitute for these essential products. Some creative alternatives for eggs in baking and cooking include applesauce, mashed banana, silken tofu, chia seeds mixed with water, aquafaba (liquid from canned chickpeas), plain yogurt, or buttermilk, depending on the recipe and desired texture cooks require. Each item usually replaces one egg per substitution.