February 24, 2023

 

USDA says egg prices will drop 30% in 2023

 

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said egg prices will drop nearly 30% this year after prices stayed near record highs for months, provided that the US does not see a rebound in bird flu outbreaks, Yahoo! Finance reported.

 

Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the cost of a dozen eggs increased by 150% in January from the same month last year to US$4.80 per dozen.

 

Seth Meyer, USDA's Chief Economist, said wholesale egg prices will decrease by 26.8% in 2023.

 

The organisation has linked recent avian flu outbreaks, which have killed more than 58 million backyard and commercial chickens and turkeys since February 2022, to the record high egg prices.

 

The USDA said egg production will rise by 4% this year to 9.4 billion dozen, and the number of egg-laying chickens will increase.

 

The USDA's livestock and poultry forecast said "a full recovery in the laying flock is expected, though not quite there yet".

 

Meyer said that his prediction is based on the idea that avian flu outbreaks won't continue.

 

Bird flu may not only be a seasonal issue, experts said, who have noted that the virus has become endemic in some species of wild birds that transmit it to poultry.

 

The USDA reported a bird flu outbreak involving almost 100,000 birds at a commercial Pennsylvania broiler chicken farm.

 

Farmers are worried that corporate price gouging, rather than just avian flu, may be to blame for at least some of the increase in egg prices. Two lawmakers wrote to the top five egg producers in the country last week to inquire about the reasons behind their rising prices.

 

-      Yahoo! Finance