"Bird flu is the number one reason for higher prices, absolutely," said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst and editor of SuperMarketGuru.com. Egg supply is shrinking due to the outbreak, which has affected over 101 million birds across 48 US states since January 2022, leading to lower production levels and thus, increased prices.
According to the USDA, "Price impacts of the HPAI outbreak will be monitored closely," noting that bird flu has strongly contributed to the elevated egg prices this summer by reducing the US egg-layer flock.
"Think about how they are housed: small spaces with lots of chickens," Lempert explains. When one chicken gets bird flu, they've got to cull the entire flock. That explains the production decline.
Thankfully, prices have retraced from their peaks; in late 2022, the average price for a dozen large eggs hit a record $4.82, driven by the bird flu outbreak.
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