Egg Prices Soar In The US Despite Trump’s Pledge To Lower Them

The sharp rise in egg prices across the U.S. over the past year has become a significant issue during Donald Trump’s presidency. While the former president had pledged to reduce prices on his first day in office, he later conceded, “It’s very hard to lower the price of something once it has already gone up.”

A month and a half into Trump’s term, egg prices continue to climb, with a noticeable shortage at major grocery chains, forcing them to impose purchase limits on eggs per customer. As a result, consumers have been buying in bulk, filling their refrigerators with large cartons of eggs.

In the past month alone, egg prices reached an all-time high of $4.95 per dozen, more than double the typical price of under $2. In several large U.S. cities, prices have been even higher. The ongoing avian flu outbreak has led to the culling of over 166 million birds, resulting in a loss of approximately 30 million eggs since January. Consequently, the national egg supply dropped by 12% as of February 1, and at least 11 million more eggs have been lost since then.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled a new plan to combat the avian flu, which includes bolstering biosecurity measures at egg-laying farms and offering support to farmers to help them recover more quickly after losing their flocks. The government is also considering temporarily allowing egg imports. “We expect prices to rise even further until Easter,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told CNN. “But I hope we’ll start seeing a decline by summer.”

Egg producers point to the persistent avian flu outbreak, which has been ongoing for nearly two years. This is especially concerning for smaller farmers, who face the risk of losing their entire businesses if the virus reaches their farms. However, large corporations in the U.S. egg industry are taking advantage of the crisis to increase their profits, often at the expense of struggling consumers.

While most of the leading egg producers are privately owned, the largest company, Cal-Maine Foods, is publicly traded, and its profits have surged. Cal-Maine controls approximately 20% of the U.S. egg market, supplying major retailers like Walmart. The company reported a significant revenue increase to $954 million in the quarter ending in November, up from $523 million the previous year, marking an 82% rise. Its net profit also surged by over 500%, reaching $218 million. Prices have continued to climb since the company’s last earnings report.

Sherman Miller, president and CEO of Cal-Maine, explained that high market prices “continued to rise as supply levels remained constrained due to highly pathogenic avian flu, but we also sold significantly more eggs—about 330 million compared to 288 million the previous year.” He added that Cal-Maine had experienced only a few flu outbreaks on its farms.

Over the past three decades, a small number of major corporations have come to dominate the U.S. egg industry. Cal-Maine has acquired over 20 smaller companies since 1989 and supplies eggs to Walmart, among other retailers. Along with four other large producers, it controls about half of the market. The second-largest producer, Rose Acre Farms, operates 17 facilities across seven southern and midwestern states. Daybreak Foods, another significant supplier, provides eggs to McDonald’s, while Hillandale Farms sells eggs under its own brand and private labels at grocery stores.

Calls for an investigation into the industry have grown. The CEOs of these companies rarely engage with the media, but Emily Metz, president of the American Egg Board, rejected accusations of price manipulation. She told the Associated Press, “This has nothing to do with anything except avian flu. Our farmers are in the fight of their lives, period. They’re doing everything they can to keep these birds safe. We are in a crisis due to low supply caused by avian flu — nothing else.”

However, concerns about potential price gouging are not without merit. Just two years ago, a jury in a class-action lawsuit found that major egg producers had artificially inflated prices in the 2000s. As a result, some lawmakers are now calling on federal regulators to examine the situation.

“Egg producers and grocery stores may be using the current avian flu outbreak as an opportunity to further restrict supply or drive up prices to increase profits,” read a letter sent to Trump by several Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

“Trump promised to lower food prices ‘on day one,’” Warren told reporters. “But as egg prices spiral out of control, he and Elon Musk have fired the people whose job it was to contain the avian flu outbreak.”

{Matzav.com}