Egg costs start to come down

The cost of a dozen eggs seems to have come down.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said egg prices fell about 9% last week and are about $3 a dozen.

The price of eggs had skyrocketed over the past few months due to the bird flu outbreak. More than 130 million chickens have been sickened by the virus over the past few years.

In March, only 2.1 million birds were sickened, compared to 23 million in January and almost 13 million in February.

“The good news is, we’re not hearing about major outbreaks anymore. We haven’t heard any recently of avian influenza,” egg production company CEO Tom Flocco said. “So that’s allowing the flock supply to build the bird supply to build back up again.”

In addition to fewer fowl getting sick or dying, consumers haven’t been buying eggs because of the cost, allowing the stocks of eggs to increase.

“The supply situation at grocery outlets has greatly improved in recent weeks and consumers are once again seeing fully stocked shelves and enjoying a range of choices without purchase restrictions,” the USDA said.

It isn’t just the supply of eggs that drove prices up, it was also labor costs that determined how much eggs cost.

In February, a dozen eggs cost $5.90 on average, which was a 10-year high. The average was $2.11 in March 2024.

Still you may not be seeing the cost at the supermarket. It may take a few weeks until grocery stores’ pricing reflects what is happening at farms.

The timing could not be better as Easter is a few weeks away, with some saying that the price of eggs will be reflected on store shelves, “right before or right after Easter.