Egg prices easing now

The egg market has gone from panic to surplus in a matter of months. On April 8, the United States Department of Agriculture said national wholesale shell-egg prices were “steady to lower,” with light demand, moderate-to-heavy supplies, and slow market activity. (ams.usda.gov) That is the opposite of what buyers see during a shortage. When stores and distributors only buy “as needed” and suppliers still have moderate-to-available offerings, it means eggs are no longer clearing the market the way they did during the worst spikes. (ams.usda.gov) The clearest sign is in loose white eggs, which are the bulk eggs sold before they are packed for different customers. In the April 8 report, large white graded loose eggs averaged 34.24 cents per dozen, down 3.65 cents from the prior report, and mediums averaged 23.39 cents, down 3.73 cents. (ams.usda.gov) A week earlier, the weekly United States Department of Agriculture overview showed an even sharper reset. National truckload prices for graded loose white large shell eggs fell 71 cents in one week to 46 cents per dozen, while the New York formula price for large cartoned eggs delivered to retailers fell 62 cents to 80 cents. (ams.usda.gov) The Midwest and California both moved lower too, which matters because they are major pricing hubs. In the April 3 overview, the Midwest warehouse price for large white eggs was $1.46 per dozen and the California benchmark was $1.74, both down from the prior week. (ams.usda.gov) The reason prices are calmer is that the flock is recovering faster than it was a year ago. Agri-Pulse, citing United States Department of Agriculture data, reported on April 8 that highly pathogenic avian influenza cases were down about 45% year over year in early 2026 and February egg production was up 5% from a year earlier. (agri-pulse.com) That disease matters because when bird flu hits laying hens, producers lose the animals that make table eggs every day. In the first three months of 2026, about 17.6 million egg layers were affected, down from about 32.8 million in the same period of 2025, which left more hens in barns and more eggs moving into stores and food service. (agri-pulse.com) Retail shoppers may still wonder why the carton in the refrigerator case does not match the collapse in wholesale prices. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the average city price for a dozen Grade A large eggs was $2.50 in February 2026, and that retail measure includes organic, cage-free, free-range, and traditional eggs sold in 75 urban areas. (fred.stlouisfed.org) Retail prices also move more slowly because supermarkets buy under contracts, carry packaging and labor costs, and stock specialty eggs that do not track the cheapest wholesale market barrel-for-barrel. The United States Department of Agriculture’s own weekly report showed conventional eggs advertised at an average $1.61 per dozen in the holiday week, while cage-free ads averaged $2.65. (ams.usda.gov) So the short version is simple: the wholesale market is behaving like a market with enough eggs again, not a market scrambling for them. If bird flu stays relatively contained and supplies remain moderate to heavy, grocery prices have room to keep easing from the 2025 extremes, even if the drop shows up unevenly from one store and one egg type to the next. (ams.usda.gov)