Here’s Why Egg Prices are Insanely Low Right Now
Twelve eggs for 99 cents? What’s going on out there?
In fact, as Quartz notes, eggs haven’t been as cheap as they are now for a full decade, after adjustment for inflation. The average price, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, is down to $1.46 per dozen, and there are deals much lower than that; it isn’t unheard of for eggs to sell for a nutso $0.99 per dozen.
What’s especially notable about this price is how dramatic a drop it is from the same time last year, when the average price of a dozen eggs spiked to over $3 per dozen. Admittedly, the price last year was unusually high, due to avian flu. Last year’s outbreak of avian flu disproportionately affected egg-laying hens, compared with, say, broiler chickens, and tons of millions of hens had to be euthanized to stem the epidemic. That drove prices sky-high.
But with things relatively back to normal on the illness front, egg producers in 2016 found themselves with a surprisingly large haul, producing more eggs than expected thanks to favorable weather and low fuel costs. Those same conditions have, actually, produced low costs for all kinds of food: Bloomberg notes that, aside from eggs, beef is also pulling in fewer dollars than last year. But nothing compared to a whopping 52 percent price reduction for our old friend, the egg.
We should note, of course, our favorite way to source eggs: the farm-fresh way.
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