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Eggs US – Price – Chart

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Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#431

Post by pessimizer »

mcv wrote: post #115

What's going on with eggs in the US? The whole world had high inflation after Covid, so that's not US-specific, but eggs tripling in price? That is extreme. I don't think my (Dutch, free-range organic) eggs went up more than 25%.

Price fixing under the cover of catastrophes, such as covid and bird flu. Frozen potatoes did the same thing over the past few years, without any excuse and without the prices of unfrozen potatoes going up similarly.

I think the industry has decided that a dozen eggs are going to retail for $5, just because it's a nice round number that will have "support." A few months of paying $8-9 for them will make it seem like a drop to $5 is going back to normal, and make $2 eggs seem like a misremembered dream.

https://www.newsweek.com/kroger-executive-admits-company-gou...

https://apnews.com/article/egg-producers-price-gouging-lawsu...

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edit: (2023) https://farmaction.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Farm-Action...

> The first case of avian flu in a commercial table-egg layer facility was detected on February 22 in Delaware. Over the ensuing Spring season, avian flu outbreaks would be reported in 10 states and result in the loss of 30.7 million egg-laying hens. After the end of May, however, avian flu discoveries would slow down dramatically. Notably, no hen losses were reported after the beginning of June except due to sporadic outbreaks in September, October, and November. All in all, the total number of egg-laying hens lost to avian flu in 2022 was around 43 million birds. Although these figures seem to support the theory that the avian flu outbreak of 2022 was significant, its actual impact on the egg supply was minimal. After accounting for chicks hatched during the year, the average size of the egg-laying flock in any given month of 2022 was never more than 7-8 percent lower than it was a year prior –– and in all but two months was never more than 6 percent lower.

> Moreover, the effect of the loss of egg-laying hens on production was itself blunted by “record-high” lay rates observed among remaining hens throughout the year. With total flock size substantially unaffected by the avian flu and lay rates between one and four percent higher than the average rate observed between 2017 and 2021, the industry’s quarterly egg production experienced no substantial decline in 2022 compared to 2021.

> [...]

> Contrary to industry narratives, the increase in the price of eggs has not been an “Act of God” — it has been simple profiteering. For the 26-week period ending on November 26, 2022, Cal-Maine reported a ten-fold year-over-year increase in gross profits — from $50.392 million to $535.339 million — and a five-fold increase in its gross margins. Notably, Cal-Maine’s gross profits increased in lockstep with rising egg prices through every quarter of the year — going from nearly $92 million in the quarter ending on February 26, 2022, to approximately $195 million in the quarter ending on May 28, 2022, to more than $217 million in the quarter ending on August 27, 2022, to just under $318 million in the quarter ending on November 26, 2022. The company’s gross margins likewise increased steadily, from a little over 19 percent in the first quarter of 2022 (a 45 percent year-over-year increase) to nearly 40 percent in the last quarter of 2022 (a 345 percent year-over-year increase).

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#432

Post by reginald78 »

oaththrowaway wrote: post #188
codingdave wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is great, so long as your flock does not get the flu and die. We have had chickens in the past, and while I fully support anyone wanting to do their own chickens, the level of effort to keep them clean and healthy, safe from predators, and the labor to take care of them is non-trivial. They were the most expensive and labor-intensive "free eggs" we ever had.

I have lost 2 flocks of chickens to a combination of raccoons, foxes, and skunks. Interestingly enough none of those could kill my turkeys - they are big enough to fight them off I guess. They don't lay as many eggs though. It is a lot of work, but after my last group was killed off 2 months I have not impressed by store eggs, so I'm planning on re-enforcing my coop so I can get another group of them soon.

Do skunks hunt chickens? We lost ours when we were a kid to raccoons and weasels. The later being better suited to getting into the coop.

Our neighbor's chickens were devoured by black bears twice. They had one wily chicken that managed to escape both events however.

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#433

Post by ryandrake »

bombcar wrote: post #410
jghn wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because in setups like I'm describing the farmers tend to start building relationships with their customers. Price gouging is generally not the best way to maintain those relationships. In previous egg shortages over the years the couple of farmers I use would sometimes impose limits like 1 carton per customer or something like that. But not jack up prices.

Smaller farmers usually want to make money to cover their costs, and if they weren't doing that, they're already in a huge pickle. As you mention, they'll impose limits (or perhaps offer "shiny brown eggs for $1 more") rather than piss off the customers, who 90% of the time have cheaper options already.

Are rising costs the reason for store-bought eggs' rising prices?

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#434

Post by dml2135 »

mullingitover wrote: post #259
whimsicalism wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

arent eggs already vegetarian

Yes. Vegetarians don’t eat meat (including fish, although some religious sects have a marketing deal with fishermen to count fish as a vegetable for some reason), do eat animal products. Vegans don’t eat meat and also don’t eat animal products.

I always found this a funny etymological thing. Going just by the words themselves, if you asked me to guess which was which, I'd say they should be reversed -- "vegetarian" seems to clearly imply "eats a diet made up of vegetables" whereas "vegan" is more ambiguous and seems to fit "mostly eats vegetables but also will eat some non-meat animal products".

But what I'm guessing happened is that the less-strict diet came first (at least in the modern era), so got the "vegetarian" moniker, and then we just needed another work for the strict no-animal-products diet so had to come up with "vegan".

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#435

Post by kamarg »

GeoAtreides wrote: post #413
mplanchard wrote: post #18

Fresh, local eggs have remained around the same price here. While more expensive than eggs from large producers in normal times, they are now often cheaper. This is a great reminder of how important it is to support local farmers and small operations, which increase the resilience of the system as a whole.

someone is leaving money on the table no reason not to hike up the prices: a. if everyone is doing it b. if the demand > supply

| no reason not to hike up the prices

Because they're happy with the income they're making from it probably. Not everything has to make the absolute maximum amount of profit possible.

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#436

Post by ryandrake »

bombcar wrote: post #419
bluGill wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of your small producers are not counting their full costs. They see they $ from selling eggs, but don't count the cost of the barn, their labor, the land the chickens are on... A real accountant would find all those hidden costs and figure out how you allocate the cost of the light bulbs in the barn to each chicken - only when you have all those numbers can you really see if it works out.

This is so common in small businesses. The biggest example I see is single-family landlords who are notoriously bad at doing the honest math. This is often why small businesses survive until the owner dies/retires, because the were making much less money than needed to continue. The biggest one is ignoring location costs because they own the building (avoiding rents or mortgage which would immediately put the busines…

If the business lasted until the owner died, then it was making at least the amount of money it needed. Not all businesses need to grow or make tons of money, if they at least serve their owner's lifestyle. If I could make a business that supported me until I died, I'd start it right now.

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#437

Post by bombcar »

bluGill wrote: post #369
simple10 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK, free-range and cage free are not heavily regulated terms like organic, which is a registered and trademark enforced term. At best they just mean the hens have a bit more room to move around. Neither of them actually mean there is no cage. It's why we see "pasture raised" as the more premium marketing term. It still doesn't mean much without looking into the specific farm.

Real pasture raised eggs do taste better. I believe this is because the chicken get to eat bugs - store bought eggs that advertise "fed an all vegetarian diet" taste worse than regular store bought - though both are bad. (taste is of course subjective). Most store bought pasture raised eggs taste just like any other store bought egg - sure the chickens get to pasture but there are too many for them to get enough bugs…

It's well known that you can change egg taste by changing chicken feed, some people swear by it.

But the more the chicken can "graze naturally" the more likely it is getting everything it wants, which may improve health and taste.

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#438

Post by GeoAtreides »

declan_roberts wrote: post #393
joe8756438 wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes. i have a flock and the feed alone puts a doz at $3. the labor is somewhat enjoyable and the chickens are incredible child-leftover disposal machines. but when you factor infrastructure and labor youll probably never recoup your “investment” in eggs. for anyone dealing with land predators, get electric poultry net. it’s magic.

Is that true even right now in the winter? My hens are basically pensioners at this point. I'm planning on refreshing the flock this spring.

what will it happen with the old hens?

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#439

Post by somecontext »

mplanchard wrote: post #350
hwillis wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bird flu has 95% lethality in chickens and takes ~48 hours to kill. It's not like they can get away with ignoring it. Testing happens when you wake up and half your birds are already dead. That said OP is asserting local costs haven't changed without evidence. Even if that were true (and I don't think it is- local farms are also being hit hard eg duck farming in NY) it probably speaks far more to small operations hav…

I was wondering how I could provide evidence for you other than walking to the grocery and taking a picture, but I found at least one of our local farms that has their prices online: https://www.maplewindfarm.com/collections/retail-store -- I'd expect it would be quite easy for them to change their prices on their own storefront and in their farmstand, where I often buy their eggs. A dozen large eggs there right now…

In case anyone was curious, the Internet archive on my parent commenter's link shows large dozen egg prices of: $7.90 March 2024, $7.50 November 2023, $6.50 February 2023.
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