Posted on 02/16/2023 11:28:51 AM PST by Red Badger
The cost of a dozen eggs has now surpassed the price of a pound of beef, marking the first time that’s happened since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping data in 1980.
The average price of a dozen large Grade A eggs ran at $4.82 in January 2023, while a pound of ground beef was $4.64. In January 2022, eggs were $1.93, and beef was $4.77, but egg prices have soared by 70% in the last year alone.
Farm Action, a farmer-led advocacy group, says the “real culprit” behind sky-high prices is a “collusive scheme” among top U.S. egg producers to fix prices to gouge consumers.
In a January letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Farm Action said the alleged collusion has helped egg producers to “extract egregious profits reaching as high as 40%.”
The letter said avian flu is not to blame. “Examining publicly-available financial data from the egg industry, the letter determines that the supply disruption caused by the avian flu outbreak had an ‘apparently mild impact on the industry,'” the group said in a press release.
The group also said egg producers are making money hand over fist. “For the 26-week period ending on November 26, 2022, Cal-Maine reported a ten-fold year-over-year increase in gross profits — from $50.392 million to $535.339 million — and a five-fold increase in its gross margins,” the letter said.
But Dave Juday, an agriculture economist with the Juday Group, said there is a slew of reasons for rising prices.
“The reason for egg price inflation is Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI),” he told The Daily Wire. “To date, about 5.76 million birds have been depopulated due to HPAI and 43.78 million have been commercial layers. As a result, 2022 egg production was down about 363.6 million dozen from the 2019/2020 average.”
The dearth of eggs led to higher costs, “passed on at a higher proportion to other [corporate] food processors/manufacturers more than retail consumers. … Markets – especially commodities – are priced on the margin. That is why a 30 percent production change can drive a 60% change in price,” Juday said.
He also said Farm Action’s comments that CalMaine and others “extorted margins” doesn’t make sense because it “ignores the way markets work.”
“For those who believe in market economics, the price the buyer is willing to pay for the amount of a product that is supplied is the classic text book definition of ‘demand.’ An analogy, it would be refreshing to learn that Farm Action turns down marginal additional donations because it is already publicizing and lobbying its issues on the budget it already has and because the ‘demand’ from donors for more such work is irrelevant to their production of that work.”
The high cost of eggs has led to a spike in plant-based egg alternatives. Eat Just, which develops and markets the brand JUST Egg, saw a 10% increase in U.S. household penetration for its egg alternatives in January, chief revenue officer Matt Riley told Fox News.
“We achieved 2.1 million, our highest household number since we’ve launched nearly four years ago,” he said.
In my opinion, the key reason is California imposed its law on egg producers. Our eggs, coming from California, went up from $0.97 to around $5.00. Over the past year eggs everywhere are going up to the same since that worked so well for California. /s
“To date, about 5.76 million birds have been depopulated due to HPAI and 43.78 million have been commercial layers..”
That sentence will make sense if one shifts one of the decimals one decimal place—the question is, which one?
I don't know how widespread this is. But if many others did this, then the regulations lowered supply.
They can blame everything else under the sun, but the catalyst is California’s law and a bit of greed by everyone else.
and once prices go up they rarely go back down enough ‘to help the ‘poor’, the people the demonaRATS propose to help.
Soon restaurants and cafes will demand payment in advance for breakfasts. People will come up short or max out a credit card if they pay after the egg meals.
I paid $2.98 for a dozen large eggs (admittedly on sale for some reason) and $3.28/lb. for a bottom round roast (day before expire date) just yesterday here in TN. Gotta know where to shop.
Good catch.
“Ill take “Worst case scenario” for a thousand, Alex.”
Breakfast places will have to raise their prices. Same with bakeries.
Denny’s Grand Slam could put you in the SLAMMER!....................
Years ago I have a conversation with a member of a local egg farming family. He told me that if they had known how quickly real estate was going to rise, they wouldn’t have constructed their million-chicken egg factories (they had several). They would have waited a bit and sold the properties.
Here in DC area, beef (and all meat) prices went completely haywire since the pandemic. Used to be you could get a decent steak for $7, hamburger for $4, and a bottom round or london broil for about $3. Today, it’s more like $15, $8 and $7
That explains the direction they are taking in that remake of the ‘Rawhide” western TV series where Pauly Shore plays the part of Trail Boss Gil Favor and Paris Hilton replaces Clint Eastwood as the Ramrod, and chickens replace the cattle.
Denny’s....
Local one closed here.
Noticed the Employee of the Month picture on the wall had a row of numbers across the bottom.
😆
We average about $20-$25 a month plus a lot of table scraps feeding our 12 chickens and 2 ducks, we have eggs all year round and supply a bunch to family also. What the chickens don’t eat, the Goats will, but they get their share also
More price increases....
Right. How 40%+ of the electorate say they still support Slow Joe for President?
Eggs go into so much food.
Like gasoline when it went up, added to inflation for anything that is shipped by boat, plane, semi or delivery trucks. Or planted or harvested by machines on farms requiring fuel to work.
As: everything.
Back in the fifties, a casting director was interviewing Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds for the same part. Neither got hired. He told them they would never make it in Hollywood, and should look for another line of work..........
eggsactly...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.