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Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

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Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#31

Post by stOneskull »

screenoridesagb wrote: post #12

Eggs and milk used to be staples people “needed” they were just few alternatives in the food market. Now they are basically luxury goods with staples being things like chicken nuggets and colas. I’m not saying it’s good or bad either way, but if the price of eggs were increased 1000% it wouldn’t effect people’s quality of life as much as a 1% increase in the cost of education or healthcare.

how can cola be a staple? it's disgusting. imagine before giving your kid a glass of water, you add 10 teaspoons of sugar to it.. and a bit of coffee

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#32

Post by chrisco255 »

jnmandal wrote: post #9

As someone who keeps backyard chickens and recently got a new flock, I will say anecdotally this spike was observed even in livestock. In March 2025, I tried to order baby chicks to replace some of my aging flock. Not only was every hatchery sold out, but going in person to farm stores meant waiting in lines on the days shipments were received and dealing with rationing (3 chicks per person, etc). I opted to order ch…

The other thing about chickens is they are pretty easy to care for. If you feed them grain and provide them decent shelter and clean their cage out every week or two, they will be perfectly happy.

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#33

Post by chrisco255 »

candiddevmike wrote: post #30
chrisco255 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because they slaughtered a huge amount of chickens due to bird flu. As you can see from the chart, the egg prices have plummeted as chicken populations have recovered.

That chart still shows the prices being higher than they were a year ago. People voted for cheaper eggs, right?

The chart ends in July, but egg prices have continued to plummet, as noted in the wholesale data: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/eggs-us

You can see wholesale price per dozen dropped from $3.35/dz in July to $1.17/dz today.

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#34

Post by elthran »

jnmandal wrote: post #9

As someone who keeps backyard chickens and recently got a new flock, I will say anecdotally this spike was observed even in livestock. In March 2025, I tried to order baby chicks to replace some of my aging flock. Not only was every hatchery sold out, but going in person to farm stores meant waiting in lines on the days shipments were received and dealing with rationing (3 chicks per person, etc). I opted to order ch…

Your phrasing of the last sentence caught my interest. Is the other reason fresh chicken meat, or is there another benefit to keeping them that I can't think of?

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#35

Post by aesh2Xa1 »

jnmandal wrote: post #9

As someone who keeps backyard chickens and recently got a new flock, I will say anecdotally this spike was observed even in livestock. In March 2025, I tried to order baby chicks to replace some of my aging flock. Not only was every hatchery sold out, but going in person to farm stores meant waiting in lines on the days shipments were received and dealing with rationing (3 chicks per person, etc). I opted to order ch…

Not to be that guy, but feed/enclosure are direct costs.

Externalities are costs/benefits to someone uninvolved with the chicken/egg transaction (noise or free insect control affecting your neighbor are negative and positive cases).

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#36

Post by thisislife2 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #6

$6.20 for a dozen eggs still sounds like a good deal. Think about the amount of work to get those onto a refrigerated shelf in the supermarket. It's amazing.

Hmmm ... 12 eggs in India is currently only around $1 (it used to be around 1/2 that price a year or 2 ago) ... Those packed and sold by billion dollar companies, retail from around US $2 though ...

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#37

Post by rsynnott »

CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #8
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #6

$6.20 for a dozen eggs still sounds like a good deal. Think about the amount of work to get those onto a refrigerated shelf in the supermarket. It's amazing.

> refrigerated shelf in the supermarket Wow, today I learned that in some countries, the supermarkets keep their eggs in the refrigerator! Apparently there is a protective coat on eggs that sometimes gets washed away, and when it is, you need to store the egg in a cold environment otherwise bacteria gets in. In other places, eggs aren't washed (that much at least) so the protective coat is still there, so we store ou…

This was a big talking point back when TTIP was on the agenda; eggs were kind of the model case of how completely incompatible EU and US regulations would act as a trade barrier even in the absence of tariffs: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-am...

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#38

Post by drdec »

candiddevmike wrote: post #30
chrisco255 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because they slaughtered a huge amount of chickens due to bird flu. As you can see from the chart, the egg prices have plummeted as chicken populations have recovered.

That chart still shows the prices being higher than they were a year ago. People voted for cheaper eggs, right?

> People voted for cheaper eggs, right?

I suppose people who don't understand markets did, yes

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#39

Post by Jeremy1026 »

elthran wrote: post #34
jnmandal wrote: post #9

As someone who keeps backyard chickens and recently got a new flock, I will say anecdotally this spike was observed even in livestock. In March 2025, I tried to order baby chicks to replace some of my aging flock. Not only was every hatchery sold out, but going in person to farm stores meant waiting in lines on the days shipments were received and dealing with rationing (3 chicks per person, etc). I opted to order ch…

Your phrasing of the last sentence caught my interest. Is the other reason fresh chicken meat, or is there another benefit to keeping them that I can't think of?

My neighbor keeps chickens as therapy animals, and is allergic to eggs.
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