Price of eggs

Egg prices are retreating from crisis-era peaks but remain elevated relative to pre-pandemic norms in 2026. The average retail price is estimated at $2.39 per dozen in 2026, representing a 43.8% steep decline from 2025's all-time high of roughly $4.25 as emergency supply constraints begin to unwind. This pullback reflects the gradual rebuilding of flocks and a partial easing of disease pressures, even as contractual rigidities and seasonal demand keep retail prices from fully mirroring wholesale swings. Short-term volatility remains pronounced, with wholesale benchmarks having surged to $8.76 in early 2025 before moderating as imports picked up and production capacity returned.

From 2021 through 2026, overlapping shocks repeatedly constrained supply and amplified price swings, driving a 7.4% compound annual growth rate. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) has been the dominant force, prompting the culling of more than 166.0 million birds and repeatedly eroding the laying flock just as producers attempted to restore capacity. Each new outbreak reset the recovery clock, tightening the market and reinforcing a pattern of abrupt price spikes followed by only partial retreats. Persistent pandemic-era logistics issues, elevated feed and fuel costs and wider food inflation intensified these pressures, limiting producers' ability to absorb higher input costs without passing them on to consumers.

Trade and policy factors have further shaped egg prices over the five-year period, adding rigidity to an already-stressed supply chain. Import tariffs and limits on the foreign egg supply narrowed the range of short-term adjustment mechanisms, forcing retailers and consumers to shoulder a larger share of the shock when domestic production faltered. At the same time, consumer demand proved remarkably resilient, supported by rising per capita egg consumption as households leaned on eggs as a relatively affordable protein source despite inflation. Together, resilient demand, constrained imports and recurrent disease outbreaks ensured that prices remained well above historical norms and unusually volatile across 2021-2026, even during brief periods when costs and spot prices temporarily eased.