Egg prices going higher, avian flu and egg industry consolidation

againstthegrain

Senior Member
Location
Sun Valley, ID
NYT -

"The calls, texts and emails start coming in before 6 in the morning: restaurants, bakeries and others desperate to find eggs.

Brian Moscogiuri is an egg broker. A vice president for the wholesale company Eggs Unlimited, he works the phone in his home office in Toms River, N.J., until late into the evening, trying to connect hopeful buyers with farms that have eggs to spare.

But as avian influenza has led to egg shortages and record wholesale prices — an average of more than $8 a dozen, up from $2.25 last fall — Mr. Moscogiuri’s job has been less making matches and more providing therapy, he said. “The buyers are struggling,” Mr. Moscogiuri said. “They’re looking at eggs that cost three or four times the typical amount.”

Egg producers, especially smaller, family-owned farms, are also anxious. Should one of their hens test positive for the H5N1 virus that causes avian flu, their whole flock would have to be killed to prevent the spread. “They can wake up and, potentially, your entire business is wiped out,” Mr. Moscogiuri said.
But there is at least one winner in the current shortage, which began in 2022: the country’s biggest egg producer.
Image
A shopper holding a bag looks into half-empty large refrigerated shelf area marked “Eggs” in large blue letters.

A Walmart in Englewood, Colo., on Feb. 7. An avian flu outbreak that started in 2022 has slashed the number of egg-laying chickens.Credit...David Zalubowski/Associated Press

Cal-Maine Foods, which controls about a fifth of the egg market and sells to Walmart and other large retailers, reported that its revenues jumped to $954 million in the quarter that ended in late November from $523 million from the prior year — an increase of 82 percent. The company said those numbers “were primarily driven by an increase in the net average selling price of shell eggs as well as an increase in total dozens sold.”

The company’s net income surged more than 500 percent, to $218 million, from year-earlier levels, thanks to higher prices, the lower cost of feed and acquisitions of other operators. And prices have shot up even more since the company released its quarterly financial statement.

The egg production industry has consolidated over the last three decades. Cal-Maine has acquired more than two dozen companies since 1989. It and four other large producers control roughly half of the egg market in the United States. The others are privately held and don’t make their financials public. The second largest of the group, Rose Acre Farms, has 17 facilities in seven states across the South and Midwest. Another large producer, Daybreak Foods, supplies eggs to McDonald’s, and Hillandale Farms sells in grocery stores under its own name and as a private label brand. (None of the companies responded to requests for interviews.)

The bird flu that hit the United States in 2022 has infected or killed 162 million birds thus far, slashing the number of egg-laying chickens. Cal-Maine has reported outbreaks at two of its farms in the last two years, which resulted in the loss of 2.6 million chickens and young hens.

But as consumers confront empty shelves in their grocery stores and prices soar in some places to over $10 for a dozen eggs, the concentration of egg production in fewer hands is raising concerns, stoked by previous findings. Two years ago, the largest producers were found liable for inflating prices in the 2000s. Now, some lawmakers are calling for federal regulators to investigate the industry."
 

I wish they'd have a vaccine for the chickens, I remember when my mom would order baby chicks that the little peeping fluff balls came vaccinated against something(s), so presumably if a vaccine were made for this avian flu it would be possible to innoculate the baby chickens.
 

I wish they'd have a vaccine for the chickens, I remember when my mom would order baby chicks that the little peeping fluff balls came vaccinated against something(s), so presumably if a vaccine were made for this avian flu it would be possible to innoculate the baby chickens.
They are working on it. A main spreader are wild birds and free range chickens.
 
We live in a rural area with several large chicken farms in the area. Normally, one can hardly drive around this area without seeing multiple large trucks filled with chickens headed for a processing plant about 25 miles away. In recent weeks, I haven't seen any of these trucks. One of the news reports this evening said that egg prices are expected to rise at least 40% from current prices, and it may be months before there is a normal supply. Along with eggs, I expect a shortage of chicken parts at the grocery stores.

So far, this year, the cost of virtually everything at the grocery stores seems to be rising.
 
I wish they'd have a vaccine for the chickens, I remember when my mom would order baby chicks that the little peeping fluff balls came vaccinated against something(s), so presumably if a vaccine were made for this avian flu it would be possible to innoculate the baby chickens.
Shift in US policy on H5N1 vaxx

"With egg prices in the United States soaring because of the spread of H5N1 influenza virus among poultry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) yesterday [2/13/2025] conditionally approved a vaccine to protect the birds. President [name redacted]'s administration may therefore soon face a fraught decision on whether to join the ranks of other nations—including China, France, Egypt, and Mexico—that vaccinate poultry against H5N1.

Although many influenza researchers contend that vaccination can help control spread of the deadly virus, the U.S. government has long resisted allowing its use because of politics and trade concerns that many contend are unscientific. The USDA approval may signal a shift in policy linked to the [name redacted] administration’s worries about egg prices. Even with the conditional approval, USDA must still approve its use before farmers can start to administer the vaccine because special regulations apply to H5N1 and other so-called highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses."

MX allows egg producers to vaccinate against avian flue so there is no supply interruption and therefore no increase in prices. I guess the mask mandate and social distancing didn't work. 😉
 
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I just heard NPR talking about what @againstthegrain 's link says. Apparently the people who raise chickens for meat do not want a vaccination because they think people won't buy poultry that has been vaccinated. It also sounded like we probably shouldn't buy it because the virus in the vaccine might effect us in the chicken we eat. (?)

My vegan son has been telling me for years about the treatment of chickens in all these factories, even the so called "free range," ones. It wouldn't be a bad thing for all of us to give up eggs and chicken for awhile.
 
I was shocked to see at the local grocery store, off brand eggs where priced at $9.49 per dozen! 😲

I heard on the news this morning, that egg prices are suppose to rise in price, 41% this year.
 
I was shocked to see at the local grocery store, off brand eggs where priced at $9.49 per dozen! 😲

I heard on the news this morning, that egg prices are suppose to rise in price, 41% this year.
That's approaching a dollar an egg. Hamburger is getting cheaper per say in that cooking a hamburger is cheaper than cooking one egg.

I saw $23 for 18 large eggs last week.
 
I'm going to the store tomorrow, but I have a carton left just in case.
 


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