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What do you think is the main reason for soaring egg prices and shortages?
- Combination of bird flu outbreak and inflation
- Bird flu outbreak
- Biden Administration policies, actions
- Trump Administration policies, response
- Not sure
In various grocery stores across the country, customers have encountered shelves with limited or no egg cartons available.
Customers who do find cartons available are getting sticker shock, with a dozen eggs priced as high as $15 at some stores.
Some supermarkets have started setting limits on the number of cartons that may be purchased.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price of a dozen eggs reached $4.82 in December, more than doubling from $1.93 the previous year.
The strain of avian influenza at the root of the outbreak, H5N1 virus, has infected or killed millions of birds and infected many other animals since it was first detected in America in January 2022.
The national egg-laying population is now down to approximately 288 million birds from around 390 million at the end of 2023.
It could take months to return to the normal level, and egg prices are expected to increase another 20 percent in 2025, according to the Department of Agriculture's price outlook.
With no end of shortages and rising prices in sight, anger and frustration are growing among consumers. What do you think is the main reason for soaring egg prices and shortages? Vote now in our Daily Voice poll.
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