Wholesale egg prices have 'plunged.' Retail prices may follow
By: Greg Iacurci (CNBC)
The fearmongers better act fast before the crisis is gone. Next up on the play list will be whines about profiteering until the (high priced) retail inventory has been consumed.
The whole crisis will be downplayed and forgotten in a matter of weeks, not months.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Published Mon, Mar 17 -- Wholesale egg prices have fallen significantly in recent weeks, a dynamic that may soon offer relief for consumers shell-shocked by record-high prices at the grocery store this year.
How quickly — and how much — retail prices will fall is unclear, however, experts said.
Wholesale prices dropped to $4.83 per dozen Friday, a 44% decline from their peak of $8.58 per dozen on Feb. 28, according to Expana, which tracks agricultural commodity prices.
The pullback comes amid a reprieve from major bird flu outbreaks so far in March and weaker consumer demand, which have helped the nation's egg supply to start recovering, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture market analysis published Friday.
Prices have "plunged," said Karyn Rispoli, an egg market analyst and managing editor at Expana.
Market dynamics are also putting "extreme pressure" on wholesale prices to fall further, Rispoli wrote in an e-mail.
Retail prices hit record high
Consumers paid $5.90 for a dozen large grade-A eggs, on average, in February, a record high, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Retail prices have blown past their prior record — $4.82 per dozen in January 2023 — and have nearly doubled from a year ago.
watch nowVIDEO6:1906:19Pete & Gerry's Eggs CEO Tom Flocco: The run-up in egg prices is unprecedentedSquawk on the Street
Prices had surged amid a deadly outbreak of bird flu in the U.S., which has killed millions of egg-laying chickens and crimped egg supply, according to agricultural economists and market experts. The U.S. Department of Justice also opened an antitrust investigation into the pricing and supply practices of major producers.
However, bird flu outbreaks seem to have tapered off in March, at least for now.
"Slowing [bird flu] outbreaks are leading to improved supply availability and wholesale market prices have responded with sharp declines over the past week," the USDA wrote.
Consumers, dissuaded by high prices and purchase restrictions imposed by many grocers, have also been buying fewer eggs, helping to ease supply shortfalls, Rispoli said.
Households also stockpiled eggs because they feared prices would keep climbing — a flashback of sorts to consumer behavior witnessed in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic — meaning there isn't an immediate need for them to replenish supply, she added.
Consumers still 'feeling the peak market'
While there have been some early signs of easing prices, it's unclear how rapidly — and to what extent — consumers may get more relief, experts said.
For one, there's generally a lag of at least two to three weeks between a change in wholesale costs and subsequentretail pricing — meaning consumers are still largely "feeling the peak market when they go to buy eggs," Rispoli said.
Plus, retailers ultimately choose "how closely they want to track wholesale prices," she said.
Egg demand is also likely to stay elevated as the Easter holiday, which falls on April 20 this year, approaches, according to Kevin Bergquist, an egg analyst at the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute.
"Egg prices will likely remain highly variable for the near future, but at a higher-than-usual level," Bergquist wrote in a March market update. "In the short term, we will likely see a continuation of high egg prices."
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Reality is going to bite the fearmongers on the ass, again. Warp speed reform is producing more results in two months than the prior administration achieved in four years.
The 'better choice' really did win the 2024 election. Screaming at the sky won't alter that reality.
Right, you can explain that to those who will soon feel the effects of the $4.5 TRILLION lost in the stock market already.
That is your opinion and you're welcome to it. Millions of patriotic Americans have a very different opinion.
Eggs seem like a very minor issue when looking at our financial futures as a whole. And the fact is, this article says that wholesale prices have plunged and " Retail prices may follow". No one is seeing cheaper eggs right now. If that actually materializes, then great! Still doesn't get the $4.5 trillion back.
Foreign investors in the US markets wouldn't be selling on fears of tariffs? Or as punishment for tariffs?
A politically motivated market correction really doesn't provide any useful indication about the health and strength of the economy.
As I said, the whole crisis will be downplayed and forgotten in a matter of weeks. That seems to be the emerging pattern after only two months of Trump's second term. Trump really has accomplished more in the first two months than the alternative accomplished in four years.
Nothing politically motivated about it, it's the uncertainty that Trump has injected that has investors both foreign and domestic scared shitless. If you can't see that, then perhaps the view is blocked by whatever Trump had for lunch last week.
Why is that not politically motivated? There's a war in Europe that introduces uncertainty. There are natural disasters around the world that introduces uncertainty. There are pandemics in livestock populations that introduces uncertainty. A container ship could knock down another bridge at any time. There are all manner of increased risks of supply chain disruptions that introduces uncertainty. The increasing dependence of the US on foreign supply makes uncertainty an investors bedfellow.
Trump's politics has highlighted the US vulnerability to supply chain disruptions. That uncertainty is rattling UK pension funds invested in US equities. That uncertainty is rattling foreign investors attempting to manipulation boardroom decisions and influence US government policy. One of these large foreign players beginning to divest spooks the market and, in the past, has influenced government policy.
I reiterate, a politically motivated market correction doesn't tell us anything about the health and strength of the US economy.
Where do you see fear mongering with respect to eggs? Bird flu is real. Millions of birds have died on farms and in the wild. Egg prices skyrocketed as a result. In many places, they haven’t been available at any price. All of this is real.
The drop in wholesale price of eggs is also real. That's the crisis for those wanting to spread fear and discord over the price of eggs for political reasons.
Good. I hope it continues and the prices go down at the store.
Define this fear and discord. There’s nothing political in being bothered by high prices. That’s a real problem. It was a problem when Biden was president and it’s a problem now.
Trump campaigned on how outrageously high he thought prices were, even though inflation had been declining for a long time. Do you call that “fear mongering?” Would you say he was promoting discord for political reasons? Is it ok when he does it? How should we judge his promise to lower prices on Day 1?
What rock were you hiding under? Look no further than NTer for proof.
So, you can’t supply evidence either. Why waste the energy hitting “reply” then?
Can you honestly say you haven’t read that here with your own eyes?
What Tacos never noted others not doing is not even a thing!
Why tf is up to me to support the things other people say???
Touchy, touchy. A simple yes or no answer would do but I suspect by your response, your answer, if you were being honest, would be yes.
So here you go. The search engine here on NTers sucks so I googled it. A couple results down:
If that’s not good enough for you I don’t care. Not in the least. I know what I’ve read here and in the mass media the last few months. Too bad you won’t admit it.
Yeah, I suppose that would be included in fearmongering. Trump was definitely attempting to sew discord among Democrats.
What did Trump get from that fearmongering and discord? Trump inherited Biden's crisis. Trump could have followed Biden's example and swept it under rug and accuse detractors of lying. But that wouldn't have lowered the price of eggs, would it?
I don’t know why this is not clear to you, but I don’t make arguments for other people, and that includes you. If you have found something in that article that you think is fear mongering over eggs, then post it here and make your argument. I am not going to go reading a whole article hunting for something that may or may not support your point of view.
Why is it Biden’s crisis? Was he supposed to prevent bird flu?
Lying about eggs??
Look, part of legitimate politics is identifying problems and outlining how you might solve them. That shouldn’t be a problem. Fear mongering, in my opinion, is lying about - or at least grossly exaggerating - a problem. For example, Trump kept talking about inflation being at record highs, when it was actually like 3%, which is actually not that bad. He built off of that and predicted an economic crash. That’s fear mongering.
Your link doesn't prove Democrats "fearmongering" in the slightest. It does say that "some Democrats" think the fact that Trump tried to blame the high price of eggs on Biden, which was just moronic, and yet hasn't been able to bring those prices down as he said he would, is a good attack on Republicans. The industry itself is bringing the prices down by the increase in maturity of chicks hatching and becoming the new egg-layers after the culling of 67 million chickens to prevent the other 300+ million chickens from getting infected.
This was a real issue, the demand for eggs has remained high while the supply was greatly diminished. There was no fear or fearmongering needed to understand this issue.
The real fearmongering was taking place mostly during the 2024 campaign and it was active on both sides. Democrats were afraid of Trump coming in like a bull in a China shop, smashing standards and norms, creating uncertainty in the markets, thoughtlessly shredding protections.
Republicans were scared shitless of Harris continuing things like they had been under Biden, you know, 12.6% real GDP growth, post-Covid inflation was brought under control, we were viewed positively by our friends, allies and trading partners around the world and strongly supported NATO and Ukraine against a vile murderous genocidal authoritarian psychopath.
So now that we know who won, we will never know how Harris would have fared though we can be pretty certain that our standing around the world would not have dropped. As for Democrats fears, they've all pretty much been proven true. Trump has been a bull in a China shop just carelessly smashing everything and the worthless dumb mother fucking bigots supporting him couldn't be happier about it because let's face it, they're not fucking intelligent enough or educated enough to understand what they are destroying. They're like the dumb ass tree trimmer actively sawing away at the branch we're all standing on while telling us no one will fall, but if they do, blame Biden because he's the one who hung all the rainbow flags and inclusion ornaments all over the national tree that bigoted conservatives are desperate to destroy so they can remake it in their rightwing conservative Christo-fascist image.
The bird flu outbreak began during Biden's first year in office; late 2021. What did Biden do during the last three years of his term to address the problem?
Trump's USDA has taken positive steps to increase the number of egg laying chickens, increase egg production, and lower the price of eggs -- while the Federal government is cost cutting.
Note the date of publication is February 26, 2025.
Biden's failure to take action makes it Biden's crisis. Trump's direct action to address Biden's crisis, a month after entering office, earns Trump real credit for a real solution. Trump really has accomplished more in two months than Biden accomplished in four years.
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The Trump administration investment is an announced strategy. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it hasn’t been done yet. Even if it could have been done in one day, it wouldn’t have immediate impact. It’s premature to give Trump credit for anything on this point.
Or blame but that doesn’t the triggered from doing that.
Always an out, isn't there? Fearmongers have been preaching fears of inflation, recession, and economic doom over Trump's announced policies. The markets retreated on announced trade strategy before any tariffs were imposed. Now those hoping to politically benefit from a bear market are citing 'uncertainty'. Always an out, isn't there?
The fearmongers have been using the price of eggs to justify fears of inflation, recession, and economic doom. Egg prices factored into fearmongering about consumer sentiment. Egg prices factored into fears that Trump's announced trade, fiscal, and economic policies are going to raise prices. The fear being spread is that Trump is going to cause prices to go up the same way egg prices have gone up.
Except egg prices are falling now. Now the fearmongers need to sweep that problem under the rug and ignore egg prices.
And that's different to the fearmonger of Republicans who preached fears of inflation, recession and economic doom if Harris was elected how exactly?
No. Trump made economic promises which many of the left rightly didn't believe, now they are pointing out how what they expected is happening. That's not fearmongering, its calculated prediction based on those "announced policies". All those you label "fearmongers" on the left were saying is that Trump couldn't do what he promised to do in the time frame he promised to do it because it would simply take more time for the egg-laying chickens' numbers to increase after the bird flu culling. It would have happened at the SAME exact speed under Harris because it doesn't fucking matter to a growing chicken who is President.
An out? Nerm, I have nothing to get out of. I’m not invested in this in the way that you seem to be. I’m looking at the situation. We don’t have evidence of government spending. We have an announcement of a plan. The notion that that announcement has fixed the egg crisis in a week or two strains credulity.
Well sure. That’s politics, but it isn’t necessarily fearmongering. When you say “Trump’s announced policies” you’re moving way beyond the scope of eggs. Now we’re talking about tariffs, firing thousands of workers, shutting down important government programs. It’s not reasonable to imagine that such policies won’t have some kind of economic impact, be if it for good or bad.
Tariffs, in particular, do not have a strong history of economic vitality to recommend them. They are generally blamed, for example, for exacerbating the Great Depression. There is GOOD reason to be very concerned about the extreme tariffs Trump wants to impose, not to mention the chaos of imposing them and removing them and then imposing them again, all in a matter of days.
I don’t think you can look at this and call it fear-mongering to suggest that they could lead to recession. That’s actually a not unreasonable prediction.
Fear-mongering, to me, is, “they’re eating the dogs; they’re eating the cats.”
All the while our fearmongering fools on the left are claiming the economy is bad.
What would you expect? They are the same fools that were saying the economy was good under Biden (if you ignore the non important thing like prices S/).
Oh, I don't expect a damn thing from them for that very reason.
I’ll ask you the same question I asked Nerm. Where do you see fear mongering with respect to eggs? Bird flu is real. Millions of birds have died on farms and in the wild. Egg prices skyrocketed as a result. In many places, they haven’t been available at any price. All of this is real.
Did you see Nerm's answer?
No, because he hasn’t posted one. Neither have you.
Well, you see, the logic goes something like this... a real issue like bird flu creates a jump in prices due to demand being the same but supply being drastically reduced but this comes at a time when an erratic President is making promises that even his most ardent supporters know he can't keep. So, in an effort to defend the indefensible, the brainless sycophants who want to sugar coat anything and everything their Dear Leader does and says, blame the high prices on "fear-mongers". That way they can once again reject any sort of responsibility for anything. It's what Republicans do best, fuck our nation in the ass and then point at Democrats when the nation wonders why its ass is sore.
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He answered. And he's 100% correct. But apparently it's not the answer you want to hear.
You know these replies are all time coded, right? I did have more interactions with Nerm, eventually, but after you came here insisting he had replied, when he hadn’t. To be clear, I didn’t require an answer from him within a certain time. This is your silly issue, not mine.
About what?
And by the way, I still don’t have an answer from you.
In your mind they are "coded".