With egg prices more than doubling in the past year, calls are coming for an investigation into possible price gouging.
But even though roughly 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered over the past year to help control bird flu have been egg-laying chickens, the size of the total flock has only been down 5% to 6% at any one time from its normal size of about 320 million hens.of a dozen eggs hit $4.25 in December, up from $1.79 a year earlier, according to the latest government data.
But trade groups say egg prices are largely determined by commodity markets, and experts say the bird flu outbreak — combined with the skyrocketing cost of fuel, feed, labor and packaging and continued strong demand for eggs — is the real culprit for the price increases. Purdue University agricultural economist Jayson Lusk said “in my view, the basic economics of the situation well explain the price rise.” He said small reductions in egg supply can result in large price increases because consumer demand for eggs doesn’t waiver much.
The largest U.S. producer of eggs, Cal-Maine Foods, was singled out by both Reed and the Farm Action group because it reported last month that its quarterly sales had jumped 110% to $801.7 million on the record egg prices, helping it generate a $198.6 million profit. up from just $1.1 million a year earlier.
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