When will egg prices drop? | | WGN Radio 720

Youngstown, Ohio (WKBN) — Egg prices are coming down, but we haven’t seen any real savings at the grocery store for a while.

the egg is expensive all year round mainly Nationwide Avian Influenza Outbreak, Supply Chain Issues and the cost of food is high. Bird flu alone will kill about 10 percent of laying hens by 2022, according to Rodney Holcomb, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University.

“It wasn’t a complete storm of high energy prices, high feed prices, and bird flu, it was a completely bad storm,” Holcomb said. We had a big price swing, which made this even worse.”

of Latest consumer data available .

The U.S. Department of Agriculture states in it: Overview of the egg market The number of egg deliveries last week was up 11%, with future deliveries up 14%, announced over the weekend. More inventory means lower prices for shoppers.

Wholesale prices for large eggs delivered to warehouses in the Midwest recently dropped from $0.13 to $5.17 per dozen.

Holcomb said retail prices lag behind wholesale prices, so it will take some time before prices drop in stores. Additionally, it takes time to recover from large avian flu losses.

“Unlike broilers, which bring in a bunch of new chicks and are fully grown and ready to be processed and eaten in about six weeks, laying hens take several months to reach egg-laying capacity,” says Holcomb. I explained. It can take 10 months for a laying hen to reach peak maturity, making it difficult for producers to get back on their feet.

Consumer demand for eggs has continued to decline from year-end levels, which has also pushed up prices, but is still higher into the new year than in 2022.

Retailers are now trying to restock inventories to normal operating levels, but it could be months before eggs reach the prices shoppers are accustomed to paying. Even these prices are not what they used to be as they continue to impact the cost of food.

As long as we can avoid another bird flu outbreak like last year’s, egg prices should fall to the ‘new normal’ price, possibly adjusted for inflation, rather than the normal or preferred price. said Holcomb.

Grocery staples have caused pain at the register for most of the last year, with the average price of a dozen eggs exceeding $3 for eggs alone. Second time in history.

Imports of shell eggs and egg products rose to their highest level since June 2017. Insufficient stock in JapanThe eggs come mainly from Turkey.