Egg Prices Finally Drop 6.7% In Biggest Decline Since 2020—But Remain Historically Expensive

Topline

The price of eggs in the U.S. dropped 6.7% between January and February, according to a new inflation report released Tuesday, ending a months-long streak of skyrocketing prices that roiled consumers and became fodder for political attacks—though prices are still more than 50% higher than this time last year.

Key Facts

The drop in prices is the first since September, and only the third monthly decline since the summer of 2021.

The price for a dozen grade A eggs in U.S. cities is down even more—February’s $4.21 average cost was more than 12% lower than January’s all-time record of $4.82, according to the Department of Labor.

The decline in egg prices led the way in cooling the monthly inflation rate for groceries down to just 0.3%, while a 6.1% drop in the price of lettuce and 2.5% decline in the cost of bacon were also top contributors, according to Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index.

February’s egg prices remained 55.4% higher than in February 2022, when the average price for a dozen eggs in cities was around $2.

Key Background

The historic spike in egg prices has been primarily attributed to a major avian flu outbreak that impacted more than 50 million birds in the U.S. last year, though anti-agribusiness activists also lobbed price gouging complaints against industry leaders, claiming prices were artificially inflated to increase profits—which egg producers like Cal-Maine Foods denied. The price decline comes as the avian flu outbreak appears to finally be lessening, according to the Department of Agriculture, which has only reported about 700,000 affected birds this year after more than 5 million were impacted in December alone. The massive increase in the price of a staple food in many Americans’ diets reverberated through Washington, where Republicans blamed President Joe Biden’s policies and progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) cited “corporate greed” as the reason for the price increases, shrugging off the impacts of the avian flu.

Tangent

Consumer prices as a whole rose 6% between February 2022 and February 2023, according to Tuesday’s report—the eighth-straight month inflation has cooled. It’s unclear whether the finding will impact the Federal Reserve’s strategy of raising interest rates to cool inflation. Inflation hit a 40-year high last year, and still remains well above the 2% level that the Fed typically targets in the long run.

Further Reading

Why Are Egg Prices Still So High? It’s Not The Reason You Think (Forbes)

Egg Prices Soar Even Higher—70% In A Year—Amid Accusations Of Price Gouging (Forbes)

Inflation Fell To 6% In February—But Some Experts Fear Banking Crisis Could Make Prices Worse (Forbes)