(Bloomberg) -- Egg prices pulled back 18 per cent from a record high last month, offering some relief as supplies recovered from bird flu shock, though tariffs risk higher costs ahead.
Shoppers paid $5.122 per dozen for large eggs on average in April, dropping from two straight months of record highs, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. The monthly decline helped drive a softer-than-forecast rise in U.S. consumer prices in April.
The drop comes as bird flu outbreaks slowed and shoppers stepped back from panic-buying earlier in the year. Wholesale prices had already cooled from records in March, but retailers had been slow to bring down consumer prices amid concerns about further shortages.
“Demand played a major role in market conditions during the first quarter,” said Brian Earnest, CoBank’s lead economist for animal protein. Even though supplies improved through Easter, “scarcity remained a fixture through April,” he said.
Easter is a big egg-buying occasion, and sales during the holiday were consistent with previous years despite initial fears of consumers scaling back, said Justin Barlup, the lead poultry analyst at Bloomberg Green Markets. Prices, which have since remained stable as retailers restock shelves, are expected to fall further in May, Barlup said. Egg demand is typically the weakest in the summer, when consumers steer toward grilling meat instead of eating eggs.
Still, consumer prices are too high to be “conducive to more than normal purchases,” especially as grocers refrain from putting eggs on sale amid tight supplies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a weekly report. A bird flu outbreak in a South Dakota commercial table egg flock in late April also affected more than 630,000 birds, keeping retailers “cautious” and supporting wholesale egg prices, the USDA said.
Also, President Donald Trump’s tariffs may lead to higher costs. Vital Farms Inc. is raising shell egg prices for its retailers, which include Target and Whole Foods, by “a modest low double-digit percentage” this month, Chief Executive Officer Russell Diez-Canseco said on an earnings call last Thursday.
“As we progressed into the year and we started to learn more about the impact of tariffs, for example, on the cost of various commodities, we thought it was prudent to take this modest price increase to ensure that we’re in good, great shape to deliver on our commitments for this year,” Diez-Canseco said.
Prices are getting a break as supplies are headed for a significant rebound with bird flu abating and imports rising. The US is expected to import 103.7 million dozen units of eggs this year, nearly triple last year’s amount, the USDA said Monday. That’s as the Trump administration has emphasized the shipments as a cornerstone of its strategy to counteract high egg prices.
Egg production in the U.S., meanwhile, is set to increase in 2026 for the first time in three years, jumping nearly 6 per cent to 9.32 billion dozen eggs, according to the USDA’s May forecast. Prices are set to drop to an average $2.16 per dozen next year, according to the agency.
Higher prices have also attracted greater investment. Global Eggs, which recently acquired Pennsylvania-based Hillandale Farms, will expand flocks by roughly 5 per cent this year, CEO Ricardo Faria said in an interview.
--With assistance from Clarice Couto.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
