The prices of American eggs increased again last month to reach a new record summit of $ 6.23 per dozen despite the predictions of President Donald Trump, a drop in wholesale prices and no operation of eggs with bird flu epidemics.
The increase published Thursday in the consumer price index means that consumers and companies that depend on eggs may not obtain a lot of immediate relief.
Egg demand is generally high until Easter, which fell on April 20.
Industry experts expected the index to reflect retail egg prices because wholesale eggs prices have dropped considerably in March. The agricultural economist of the University of Arkansas, Jada Thompson, said that wholesale prices had not started to fall before mid-March, so there may not be enough time for the average price of the month to refuse. And grocery stores may not have immediately managed to reduce prices.
The epidemics of the bird flu were cited as the main cause of price peaks in January and February after more than 30 million laying chickens were killed to prevent the spread of the disease. Only 2.1 million birds were slaughtered in March and none of them was in egg farms.
Egg prices reached $ 5.90 in February a month after having set a record at $ 4.95 per dozen, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The farms that had dropped epidemics worked to resume the production of eggs after having disinfected their barns and increased new herds, but chickens must have about six months before starting to lay eggs. Thompson said these farms have not returned online as quickly as expected.
In the last American department of agriculture, there were only about 285 million hens laying eggs nationwide on March 1, before the epidemic, the herd was generally counted at more than 315 million.
Since the start of the current epidemic of the bird flu, more than 168 million birds have been killed, most of the egg weighted chickens. Whenever a bird falls ill, the whole herd is killed to prevent the flu from birds from spreading. This can have an effect on the supply of eggs because massive egg farms can have millions of birds.
Trump has tried to credit the prices of large lower eggs that the USDA has declared in recent weeks.
“The prices of the eggs they crossed the sky. And you did a fantastic job,” Trump told the Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins before announcing the details of his prices in the White House last week. “Now we have a lot of eggs and they’re much cheaper now.”
But experts say that the president’s plan to fight bird flu by focusing on strengthening the defenses of egg farmers against the virus is probably long -term aid.
The agriculture department has tried to find imports of eggs to add to the offer and nearly 4 million dozens of eggs were introduced into the country in February. But egg traders saw an opportunity with high prices and 7.6 million tens were exported. Mars numbers were not yet available.
“I think there are a lot of people who seek to see the prices of eggs drop because they wanted to call it a victory. And I think it is a loss for everyone. I think we all want to see the prices of eggs drop,” said Thompson.
Rollins suggested that the rise in egg prices on Thursday. She highlighted the overall consumer price index showing a slight drop in prices for goods and services in the American economy in March and the prices of suggested eggs will soon follow.
“We are also moving into the Super Bowl of Eggs, which is Easter,” said Rollins. “So, from the start, I said that it was somehow the high price for retail, but we feel very confident that will continue to go down.”
Earlier this week, Trump said that the annual white house eggs would again use real eggs this year despite high prices. Egg producers generally give more than 30,000 eggs for the event.
Egg prices in the country
American egg prices began to drop in mid-March, according to Datasembly, a market research company that follows prices in thousands of stores. Datasembly said the eggs were on average $ 5.98 per dozen per week from March 16 and dropped $ 5.51 per week from March 30.
But prices vary considerably across the country, according to the location of recent bird flu epidemics and certain laws of the state demanding that eggs be without cage. In a Walmart in Richmond, California, a dozen eggs were $ 6.34 on Thursday. In Omaha, Nebraska, Walmart sold eggs for $ 4.97 per dozen. California requires that the eggs sold to be without a cage; Nebraska does not do so.
The latest numbers could increase the control of food from Maine Cal, which provides 20% of the country’s eggs and other major egg producers.
Earlier this week, Cal-Maine acknowledged that he was investigated by the antitrust division of the United States Ministry of Justice, which examines the increases in egg prices. Cal-Maine declared that he was cooperating in the investigation.
During his last quarter, which ended on March 1, Cal-Maine said that his net income more than tripled to $ 508.5 million compared to the same period a year ago.
The price of real eggs means that some consumers are turning to false for Easter crafts this year.
The craft retailer Michaels said that sales of its plastic egg crafts kits – which were listed for $ 2.49 on the company’s website Thursday – increased by 20% compared to last year. Michaels said that sales are generally getting closer to Easter, but it has started to see a notable increase in early March of this year.
“With a little more than a week to leave until Easter, our craft egg kits are almost sold,” said the company.
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The writer Associated Press, Aamer Madhani, contributed to this report.
