Egg prices may not stabilize until late summer, USDA analysts warn

Egg prices have hit consumers hard in recent weeks, and those increases caught the attention of the White House and led to a billion-dollar plan from USDA.

While wholesale prices are down significantly in the last month, USDA analysts say the data is still playing catch up, and it could be some time before anyone feels relief.

“So we’re really incorporating that into the new forecast. It suggests egg production is tightening up by about 75 million dozen relative to where we were in February, so that’s tighter production really through the third quarter of this year, where after that we would expect it to rebound, assuming no new cases of HPAI,” said Mark Jekanowski.

Egg prices are off the highs we saw a couple of weeks ago, but Jekanowski says the market is still very volatile. USDA has wholesale prices this week for large white eggs at $4.15 per dozen.

LATEST STORIES BY THIS AUTHOR:

Now the Senate must pass a version of the spending bill before the Sept. 30 deadline.
Corn and beef exports showed strong momentum, cotton sales surged, and soybean sales held steady, though China remains absent from the U.S. market.
Cheaper freight is helping exports move, especially corn, but weaker soybean demand looms large.
Disease risks remain a key factor to watch heading into fall.
American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) economist Danny Munch explains how the Emergency Livestock Relief Program application process differs from other USDA aid programs.