Egg Prices Still Going Up – Nearly Double Since 2021


egg prices on the rise

The price of eggs continues to go up in 2022 – in fact, they’ve almost doubled over the last year – putting a continual strain on the small businesses who need them. Inflation and other causes have led to the massive increase in egg prices this year.

Egg prices are up 82% over August last year and just went up another 6.1% from July, according to information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The volume of trailer load loose egg sales last week fell by 12% from the previous week with 10% for future delivery.

Egg Prices up by 6.1 % in August

Prices for national trading of truck lot quantities of graded, loose, white large shell eggs rose $0.39 to $2.201 per dozen. Egg prices have continued to go up, in July egg prices went up by 47% compared to what they cost a year ago. 

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), regional and California egg prices are up 13 cents for Jumbo, 3.5 to 17 cents higher for Extra Large, up 2.5 to 17 cents for Large, 2.5 to 16 cents higher for Medium, and up 9 cents for Small.  Prices of New York eggs are up 10 cents for larger sizes and 5 cents higher for Medium.

The BLS released a report on Tuesday indicating a major increase in certain food items such as eggs, flour, milk, and bread. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose by 0.1 percent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis after being unchanged in July. Over the last 12 months, the all-items index increased by 8.3 % before the seasonal adjustment. The food at home index rose 0.7 percent in August as all six major grocery store food group indexes increased.

The index for other food at home rose 1.1 percent, while the index for cereals and bakery products rose 1.2 percent over the month.  The meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index; the fruits and vegetable index; and the nonalcoholic beverages index all increased by 0.5 percent in August. The index for dairy and related products increased 0.3 percent over the month, the smallest increase in that index since November 2021.

Why are eggs so expensive?

The prices of eggs have shown a steady rise mostly prompted by a deadly and highly infectious avian flu earlier this year. The avian flu had forced US farmers to kill millions of egg-laying hens, reducing the country’s egg supply and driving up prices.

The nation’s worst bird flu outbreaks had resulted in the culling of more than 30 million commercial and wild birds with egg-laying hens and turkeys being the most affected. This caused the country’s egg supply to go down while demand is still high, forcing prices to rise.

In addition, the rise in egg prices is attributed to supplies for eggs ranging from light to moderate.

Image: Envato Elements

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Samson Haileyesus Samson Haileyesus is a staff writer for Small Business Trends and has several years of progressive experience in media, communication and PR working with government, NGOs and private sector. He is passionate about public outreach, branding, media relations and marketing.

One Reaction
  1. Avian flu is no joke. It isn’t getting the news air time, but just a single farm can have a couple million laying hens and one positive test will lead to all of them being euthanized.