Egg prices just hit a record high

While wholesale egg prices have fallen, that hasn't been reflected in prices for supermarket customers. If you’ve noticed egg prices getting more expensive, you’re not imagining things.

Egg prices rose 5.9% during March, hitting a record high of $6.20 for a dozen, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Still, the egg price climb has slowed, notching 10.4% in February and 15.2% in January. Compared with this time last year, egg prices are up 60.4%. Eggs have become somewhat of a political bellwether over the past year, dominating debates and campaign stops. President Donald Trump crowed about egg prices during a Rose Garden ceremony on April 5.

“The egg prices came down 50%,” he said, praising Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins. “You got them down 50% once we got involved; they were going through the sky, the egg prices, they were going through the sky, and you did a fantastic job. Now, we have lots of eggs, and they’re much cheaper, down about 59% now, and they’re going down further.” While the wholesale price of eggs has declined, there is often a lag in what price different retailers assign to eggs. Avian flu, which had ravaged the egg-laying hen populations, has abated somewhat, helping to relieve wholesale price pressure.

“Slowing [bird flu] outbreaks are leading to improved supply availability and wholesale market prices have responded with sharp declines over the past week,” the USDA wrote in a recent memo.

August 2019 saw the lowest egg prices of the past decade — on average, $1.21 a dozen, a far cry from today’s record price of $6.20. So if scrambled eggs seem like a much more expensive breakfast proposition these days, that’s why.