Egg Shortages and High Prices in Peak Season Around Easter

At a Target store in the East Village, an employee was filling the shelves with cartons of eggs on Palm Sunday [April 13] when a passerby noted that the store seemed to have plenty of eggs.

“For now,” the stock boy said. “Once word gets out, they will be gone by the end of the day,” he said, “especially with Easter coming.”

The eggs were selling for $5.59/dozen. A short distance away on East 14th Street, Trader Joe’s had already sold out of its $4.49/dozen and $5.49/dozen shortly before 10am.

D’Agostino’s, which had upped its egg prices to $12.99/dozen at one point, seemed to have plenty of eggs available at a pricey $10.99/dozen when we checked one store on Holy Saturday. Fairway uptown seemed to be pricing somewhat below that, but above the Trade Joe’s/Target prices, and had eggs when we checked at mid-week. And an East Side Morton Williams on Easter Sunday morning had eggs at $6.79/dozen, although its lower priced $4.99/dozen had only a few containers left when we checked.

Demand was probably higher than usual in the days leading up to the celebration of Easter on April 20 because long-held tradition for kids in families that celebrate the religious holiday has been to dye hard-boiled eggs with vegetable coloring to make colorful decorations that can also be eaten. Even US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called Easter “the Super Bowl of eggs.” And she insisted prices would soon be dropping as the wholesale price in recent days appeared to be easing. “We’ve said all along the retail prices will just take a while to catch up,” she stated.

But in local stores, there was little sign of easing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the average price of a dozen eggs hit a new record of $6.23/dozen in March, up nearly 6 percent from February, and more than 60 percent higher than a year ago. Nationally, wholesale prices have started to come down, however, which may afford some relief in the days ahead. But it was not apparent when checking into local retailers.

Locally, most egg retailers are either setting prices high, which seems to dampen demand, or trying to hold the line on the price and limiting purchases. Even so, the stores with lower prices seemed to have empty shelves early.

The shortages and skyrocketing prices are all due to the return of bird flu and the efforts to contain its spread. When a single case is detected, the entire flock has to be euthanized. More than 30 million egg-laying chickens were killed in January and February in a bid to prevent the spread of the disease, but only 2.1 million birds were put down in March, which could lead to lower prices at the retail level, even if they have not shown up yet locally.

The wholesale price of eggs in the New York market was $8.43 in February and had dropped to $4.08 in March. But with the egg-laying chicken population already 10 percent smaller than at the start of the latest outbreak, it will be many months before prices return to their earlier levels.

The American Egg Board, which is the trade association of egg farmers, wants consumers to know their members feel the pain as whole flocks are being wiped out even if just a single case of bird flu is detected.

“This has been an incredibly challenging time for the egg industry,” association president and CEO Emily Metz wrote in a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on April 10. “Our egg farmers are in the fight of their lives. We know how frustrating it is when people find empty shelves or unusually high prices at the store. And we know our restaurant, grocery and food manufacturers are frustrated, too.

“Egg farmers feel the same way, and we’re working on solutions,” she said. “These challenges are especially difficult during spring celebrations like Easter and Passover, when eggs hold such an important place in cherished family traditions.”

The USDA said it has undertaken a five-pronged strategy to contain bird flu and help farmers replenish their depleted flocks.

Meanwhile, according to reports, some families were getting creative and using non-perishable items to make decorations that resemble eggs but can be reused, or dying things like marshmallows instead of eggs. There were even reports that some people were dying potatoes, though we did not encounter anyone who had done so.

One recent survey found that one-third of Americans say they have stopped buying eggs entirely, and won’t resume buying until prices drop significantly.