Supermarkets are advertising eggs at an average $3.13 a dozen for Large white eggs Grade A or better – more than double the price of a year ago, says the USDA’s weekly National Retail Report. “The weighted average price of Grade A or better Large white eggs continues to trend sharply higher to record levels,” says the report. The national average price a year ago was $1.41 a dozen.
Egg prices soared due to the worst epidemic of bird flu ever to hit the United States, during the first half of the year. Ten percent of the hens that lay eggs for table consumption were lost to the outbreak.
The USDA says egg production is recovering more slowly than expected, so it now forecasts a 5-percent decline in egg production for this year, compared to its previous estimate of 4 percent. It will be 2017 before production recovers completely, according to the USDA. Egg prices are expected to peak at the end of this year, traditionally the high point, and to moderate in 2016.