‘People are frustrated': Record egg prices continue soar — here’s how to find relief at the grocery store

Why are egg prices so high?

The short answer is there are shortages in supply due to an avian flu outbreak. The longer answer is a bit more complicated.

More specifically, the most recent outbreak from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has caused the deaths of around 150 million chickens and turkeys — a large percentage of them egg-laying hens. Farmers have been battling this outbreak since 2022 and have been working hard to repopulate chickens to meet the demands for eggs.

Because even young egg-laying hens have been affected, this repopulation is expected to take at least six months to a year.

Emily Metz, chief executive of the American Egg Board, told Wall Street Journal that farmers “know people are frustrated and they are frustrated too by the situation,” and that “they know they are not able to put on the volume of eggs that people want.”

As the decreased supply of eggs hasn’t tempered demand, prices have gone up as a result. Stores are trying to maintain a steady supply of eggs and not risk having them sell out.

But the Department of Justice (DOJ) is also considering other reasons why prices are so high and has launched an investigation into the cause of the steep rise in cost of eggs. Its antitrust probe is also looking at whether the ongoing shortage is the result of collusion between producers and distributors to drive up profits.

Typically, grocery stores tend to keep the price of eggs relatively low, partially as a strategy to attract customers through the doors. In other words, grocery stores only put a small markup from wholesale egg prices, knowing that consumers will likely buy other items with higher profit margins while in the store to purchase their eggs (a strategy Costco employs as well).

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Why Canada has plenty of eggs

Many commercial farms in the U.S. rely on large-scale operations because of the automated equipment used to keep up with production. This puts a greater number of birds at risk for infection, when just a single bird becomes infected.

But even states like California, Nevada and Massachusetts may see prices soar even higher because of their ban on the production and sale of conventionally-raised hens; these states rely on cage-free eggs, which are also experiencing decreased supply due to avian flu as well.

To help combat the egg shortage, the USDA is investing $1 billion into lowering egg prices and combating avian flu. The organization is looking at options to increase the import of eggs from countries like Canada. Plus, the USDA is also working to temporarily decrease the export of US eggs to shore up its own supplies.

Canada’s approach is somewhat different, and Canadians have not seen the same steep price increases or shortages as Americans have. There are a few reasons for this, but the key difference is that egg farms in Canada are smaller — typically housing 25,000 egg-laying hens. Compare that to American farms, which see over a million egg-laying hens per large-scale farm.

This means that when one farm is impacted by avian flu in Canada, it’s much easier to contain the outbreak and other suppliers can continue supplying their eggs. Effectively, Americans put more of their eggs in fewer baskets compared to their northern neighbors. And while historically, this would have resulted in cheaper eggs due to scale of production, in times like these, the cost per egg is higher in the U.S.

How to cope with rising egg prices

Although data shows that egg prices are indeed slowly falling, the supply won’t be back at its usual levels for some time.

To cope with high prices in the meantime, you can watch for local grocery store deals and seek out coupons and competitive pricing. Buying in bulk could offer some discounts per egg, but this only makes sense if you can reasonably consume this amount of eggs (or find people to split the cost with).

Buying from local smaller-scale sources could also offer some savings, in addition to providing support to these farmers.

Depending on what you're making, egg substitutes could be a great alternative. Liquid egg substitutes, such as aquafaba — the starchy liquid from cooked or canned chickpeas — and other vegan alternatives could be cheaper than the price of a dozen eggs (and they can be made at home).

Alternate egg replacers are typically made with flax seeds, tofu, potato starch and bananas and can easily offer a substitute for eggs in baking, like cakes and cookies, so as the Easter and Passover seasons approach, there are options available to you.