USA: Bird flu, the cause of high egg prices, says USDA

Published 2023년 1월 12일

Tridge summary

In 2022, the United States experienced high egg prices at the grocery store due to outbreaks of avian influenza among egg-laying hens, leading to lower inventories and increased demand during the holiday baking season. Wholesale egg prices were expected to decline as the industry rebuilt its hen inventory, and they did fall in the final week of the year. The outbreaks, which began in February, resulted in the death of over 43 million laying hens and led to 29% smaller egg inventories by late December compared to the beginning of the year.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Egg prices at the grocery store were elevated throughout 2022 due to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) among egg-laying hens, said USDA economists. “Lower-than-usual shell egg inventories near the end of the year, combined with increased demand stemming from the holiday baking season, resulted in several successive weeks of record-high egg prices.” Wholesale egg prices were expected to decline as the industry rebuilds its hen inventory, said the Economic Research Service. Prices, which were 210% higher in the week leading up to Christmas than during the same period in 2021, fell in the final week of 2022. Bird flu outbreaks began last February, with two large waves of losses — the first from February to June and the second from September to December. By the end of 2022, more than 43 million laying hens had died from the viral ...

Source: Successful Farming