The prices of eggs drop. But there is a catch

new York
Cnn
–

The egg shortage may have been cracked.

The price of wholesale eggs dropped again last week at $ 3.00 per dozen, The American Department of Agriculture has reported in its weekly egg market report. It is a 9% drop compared to the previous week.

“The supply situation in grocery stores has improved considerably in recent weeks and consumers have once again seen fully supplied shelves and take advantage of a range of choices without purchase restrictions,” said the report.

This should be good news for consumers. Egg shortages and higher prices tormented them for months. In February, the price of a dozen eggs reached a 10 -year summit, retail for $ 5.90, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The egg market seems to be on the rise. While avian flu has killed 30 million eggs in laying this year, epidemics were contained.

Bernt Nelson, American Farm Economist Farm Federation, says the drop in prices is largely due to a sharp decrease in avian flu, with only 2.1 million birds affected in March, compared to 23 million in January and almost 13 million in February. »»

“American poultry breeders have done the work to tighten biosecurity and they will continue to strive to protect their herds,” said Nelson.

The demand also fell while consumers have tired of paying higher prices, giving suppliers the possibility of strengthening supply. Lower prices have followed.

“I think the story is on the eggs right now. We had a lot of eggs to come, “said Stew Leonard, Jr., owner of Stew Leonard’s grocery channel in the northeast.

Leonard says he was selling eggs for $ 10 a dozen in December, but today the eggs are sold in his stores for $ 5.99.

“We are again back to low-cost eggs. There seems to be a lot of offer,” he said. “I spoke to our farmers in Pennsylvania who have a number of farms with laid hens.

But despite the light points, he can take weeks for wholesale prices to translate into most of the shelves of the grocery store, according to the USDA.

“It is only now to start seeing the prices of the shelves decrease slowly,” said the report of the Ministry of Agriculture. “The demand of egg products manufacturers is mainly light, because many have been able to take advantage of a slow cardboard market to build supplies on the cash market, enough to increase production levels to a higher 3 months.”

And grocers always limit the amount of customers. Costco says that it always restricts egg purchases for three per customer. A Whole Foods in downtown Manhattan had a panel limiting egg purchases despite the stored shelves.

President Donald Trump has taken credit for the drop in prices in recent weeks, saying: “We have lowered it”. He also praised the investment of $ 1 billion from the administration which fights against avian flu. The prices of wholesale eggs began to drop in the last week of February, as was the USDA plan to fight the disease has been announced.

Egg price increases may have slowed down, but are still historically high. Egg prices in February increased by 10.4% compared to January and increased by 58.8% compared to a year ago, according to the consumer price index.