Source: The Independent
Thursday 06 February 2025 16:54 EST
With fewer shells on shelves, customers are scrambling for new ways to get their egg fix. Due to the bird flu outbreak, there are millions fewer hens, meaning way fewer eggs. Frustrated shoppers across the country have even started posting videos of empty shelves where eggs once lay. "Eggs were gone in less than 10 minutes! Costco!" one TikTok user wrote.
"My Costco didn't even have eggs to buy yesterday," an X user groaned. Another posted a video of empty shelves at a Florida Whole Foods: "The great egg shortage continues..." More than 13 million hens were lost to the virus in December alone, according to the USDA's latest Egg Markets Overview.
Bird flu aside, the price of a dozen large grade-A eggs has been on the rise for almost a year and a half, doubling from September 2023 to December 2024, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show. Currently, the average price of a dozen eggs is about $4.16, according to the American Egg Board. The Agriculture Department predicted egg prices would climb another 20 percent this year.
"These two forces combined -- tight supply and high demand -- are directly causing the spike in wholesale prices we've seen recently, as well as the intermittent shortages of eggs at some retail locations and in different parts of the country," American Egg Board CEO Emily Metz previously told The Independent in a statement. But there's another problem that seems to be falling through the cracks: shoppers appear to be stockpiling eggs.
Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/egg-shortage-prices-stockpiling-bird-flu-b2693758.html