Egg prices are very high in many places as Easter and Passover get closer. This is because there are some problems in the egg market, like diseases, a lot of people wanting eggs, and farmers having to spend more money.
This is the second year in a row that people are surprised by how much eggs cost right before Easter and Passover, both holidays where people eat a lot of eggs.
Even though egg prices are lower now than they were this time last year all around the world, they’re still high. Nan-Dirk Mulder, a person who knows a lot about food and farming, thinks that egg prices won’t go back to what they were in 2021.
In the U.S., the average price for a dozen eggs in February was $2.99. That’s down from $4.21 last year, but still much higher than the $1.59 they cost in February 2021.
In Europe, egg prices are 10% to 15% lower than last year, but still twice as much as they were in 2021.
Egg prices are very high in many places as Easter and Passover get closer
One big reason for the high egg prices is a disease called avian flu. This disease is really bad for birds and spread to a lot of places in 2020 and 2021. Even in 2022, millions of birds got sick or had to be killed because of avian flu.
The disease is still spreading. Just in December, the U.S. had cases in 45 big chicken farms and 33 smaller ones, affecting over 11 million birds.
When there’s avian flu, there aren’t as many eggs, so prices go up. It takes a long time to get things back to normal after there’s been avian flu.
Other things can also make egg prices go up and down, like weather problems, COVID-19, and wars. For example, the price of chicken feed went up a lot between 2020 and 2022 because of these issues.
But things will get better. Prices will go back down after Easter, and the measures to stop avian flu will help too. People who sell food with eggs in it, like Lyncoya Ilion, hope they won’t have to raise their prices because of high egg costs.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture thinks that egg prices will go down about 2.8% this year, which will help.
