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'Those high egg prices are here to stay'

The cost of eggs has been soaring largely because of bird flu, according to experts, who also warn high prices are here to stay for a bit. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp, James Carbone

Soaring wholesale egg prices are spurring some grocery stores, bakeries, diners and other businesses to pass the cost hikes on to their customers.

Consumers are feeling sticker shock as the price of a dozen eggs in some local supermarkets hits $8, $9 or more.

"Here, I’m looking at the prices. I’m not going to be buying any eggs today because it’s just crazy the prices, of everything," Floral Park resident Dorothy Woods said while in a Holiday Farms supermarket in Franklin Square on Tuesday.

Egg prices are surging due to an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, that started in 2022 and has reduced the number of birds, causing an egg shortage.

Retail egg prices in December were 36.8% higher than they were a year earlier, and they are expected to increase 20.3% this year, according to a report the U.S. Department of Agriculture released Friday. But prices were still lower than they were at their peak in January 2023, the agency said.

Nationwide, the average price of a dozen grade A large eggs was $4.15 in December, up 65% from the price a year earlier, $2.51, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Fewer egg-laying birds have led to a supply and demand issue, experts said.

"In 2024, we saw about 40 million laying hens depopulated as a result of the virus, and in the first three weeks of January alone, we saw 8.24 million additional laying hens affected. With these losses, the national laying flock is not able to keep up with demand, so the result we’re seeing is a rise in prices," said Amy Barkley, livestock and beginning farm specialist at the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Exacerbating the problem of an egg shortage due to the bird flu are panic-buying shoppers cleaning out refrigerator shelves in some supermarkets, store operators said.

Some retailers have responded by limiting the number of eggs that shoppers can buy at one time.

Discount grocer Lidl is limiting eggs to two items per customer on three brands but specialty products, such as cage-free, free-range and organic eggs, are excluded from the restrictions, according to the Germany-based company, which has U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

Sam’s Club also is limiting egg purchases to two items per customer, but sister chain Walmart is not, Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart Stores Inc. said.

BJ’s Wholesale Club, headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, declined to answer questions about its egg prices or sales policies, but at the retailer’s store in Uniondale on Tuesday, signs posted on refrigerators said eggs were limited to two packages per customer.

On Tuesday, Floral Park retirees Steven and Liz Valente were shopping at BJ’s in Uniondale, where their shopping cart contained a three-dozen twin pack of Wellsley Farms extra-large, cage-free eggs, priced at $16.29.

Despite the elevated prices, eggs are still a good deal because of their health benefits, including being high in protein, said Liz Valente, 63.

Still, the price is shocking, she said.

"And every time you think it can’t get any worse, it just does. ... We’re doing all right [financially] but there are people that it’s harder on them," she said.

Some consumers are accusing businesses of taking advantage of the egg shortage by excessively hiking prices.

On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office issued a statement warning businesses against price gouging on eggs and poultry, and encouraging consumers to submit complaints about price gouging to her office.

The state’s price gouging statute prohibits businesses from selling goods or services that are essential to health, safety or welfare at excessively higher prices during market disruptions caused by emergencies, according to the statement. 

New York City-area grocer David Mandell is not limiting the number of eggs that shoppers can buy at his seven supermarkets, including three Holiday Farms and one Locust Valley Market on Long Island.

He is paying more than twice as much for wholesale eggs for his stores, compared with the price a year ago, he said.

While he has raised the prices of eggs in his stores, he hasn’t made the hikes commensurate with his higher wholesale costs because the sticker shock might spur customers to stop buying eggs altogether, he said.

For a dozen extra-large white eggs from the Urban Meadows brand, Mandell’s stores were paying a wholesale cost of $6.98 last week, a 117% increase from a year earlier at $3.21, he said.

Mandell is selling the eggs in his stores at $8.59, a 54% increase from $5.59 a year earlier, he said.

"The truth is we’re making less money and we’re selling less eggs. It’s not good for retailers," he said.

Supermarket chain Stew Leonard’s has not limited the number of eggs customers can buy but it might in the future if the panic-buying going on now ramps up, said Stew Leonard Jr., president and CEO of the Norwalk, Connecticut-based chain of eight stores, including two on Long Island.

The wholesale price of eggs for his stores has more than doubled since last year, but he hasn’t increased retail prices by an equivalent rate, he said.

"We’re eating a lot of the price increase. It takes a lot of guts to go over 10 bucks a dozen for eggs," he said.

The average price of one dozen extra-large white eggs in Stew Leonard’s stores is $9.99, double the price in August, the company said.

At a Lidl grocery store in Plainview on Tuesday, the cheapest grade A large white eggs were the Puglisi Egg Farms brand, $5.19 a dozen. In a nearby ShopRite, Eggland's Best was the cheapest brand of grade A large white eggs, $4.59 a dozen.

Premier Diner in Commack uses about 9,000 to 10,000 eggs a week to make a variety of foods, including omelets, pancakes, French toast and cakes, said Peter Georgatos, who co-founded the business with his wife 20 years ago.

Over the last two years, the diner’s wholesale expense for a case of 360 eggs has risen from $40 to $185, he said.

That hike, coupled with an overall 60% increase in the wholesale price of all the food the diner has been buying over the past four years, likely will lead to higher menu prices, Georgatos said.

"We’re going to have no choice, maybe the next two months, we might have to raise it a little bit, maybe 8%, just to cover the cost of the materials," he said.

Soaring wholesale egg prices are spurring some grocery stores, bakeries, diners and other businesses to pass the cost hikes on to their customers.

Consumers are feeling sticker shock as the price of a dozen eggs in some local supermarkets hits $8, $9 or more.

"Here, I’m looking at the prices. I’m not going to be buying any eggs today because it’s just crazy the prices, of everything," Floral Park resident Dorothy Woods said while in a Holiday Farms supermarket in Franklin Square on Tuesday.

Egg prices are surging due to an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, that started in 2022 and has reduced the number of birds, causing an egg shortage.

   WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND

  • Consumers are feeling sticker shock as the price of a dozen eggs in some local supermarkets hits $8, $9 or more.
  • Egg prices are surging due to an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, that started in 2022 and has reduced the number of birds, causing an egg shortage.
  • Some retailers have responded by limiting the number of eggs that shoppers can buy at one time.

Retail egg prices in December were 36.8% higher than they were a year earlier, and they are expected to increase 20.3% this year, according to a report the U.S. Department of Agriculture released Friday. But prices were still lower than they were at their peak in January 2023, the agency said.

Nationwide, the average price of a dozen grade A large eggs was $4.15 in December, up 65% from the price a year earlier, $2.51, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Fewer egg-laying birds have led to a supply and demand issue, experts said.

"In 2024, we saw about 40 million laying hens depopulated as a result of the virus, and in the first three weeks of January alone, we saw 8.24 million additional laying hens affected. With these losses, the national laying flock is not able to keep up with demand, so the result we’re seeing is a rise in prices," said Amy Barkley, livestock and beginning farm specialist at the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Limiting consumer egg sales

Exacerbating the problem of an egg shortage due to the bird flu are panic-buying shoppers cleaning out refrigerator shelves in some supermarkets, store operators said.

Some retailers have responded by limiting the number of eggs that shoppers can buy at one time.

Discount grocer Lidl is limiting eggs to two items per customer on three brands but specialty products, such as cage-free, free-range and organic eggs, are excluded from the restrictions, according to the Germany-based company, which has U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

Sam’s Club also is limiting egg purchases to two items per customer, but sister chain Walmart is not, Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart Stores Inc. said.

BJ’s Wholesale Club, headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, declined to answer questions about its egg prices or sales policies, but at the retailer’s store in Uniondale on Tuesday, signs posted on refrigerators said eggs were limited to two packages per customer.

On Tuesday, Floral Park retirees Steven and Liz Valente were shopping at BJ’s in Uniondale, where their shopping cart contained a three-dozen twin pack of Wellsley Farms extra-large, cage-free eggs, priced at $16.29.

Despite the elevated prices, eggs are still a good deal because of their health benefits, including being high in protein, said Liz Valente, 63.

Still, the price is shocking, she said.

"And every time you think it can’t get any worse, it just does. ... We’re doing all right [financially] but there are people that it’s harder on them," she said.

Some consumers are accusing businesses of taking advantage of the egg shortage by excessively hiking prices.

On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office issued a statement warning businesses against price gouging on eggs and poultry, and encouraging consumers to submit complaints about price gouging to her office.

The state’s price gouging statute prohibits businesses from selling goods or services that are essential to health, safety or welfare at excessively higher prices during market disruptions caused by emergencies, according to the statement. 

Retailers take hit

New York City-area grocer David Mandell is not limiting the number of eggs that shoppers can buy at his seven supermarkets, including three Holiday Farms and one Locust Valley Market on Long Island.

He is paying more than twice as much for wholesale eggs for his stores, compared with the price a year ago, he said.

While he has raised the prices of eggs in his stores, he hasn’t made the hikes commensurate with his higher wholesale costs because the sticker shock might spur customers to stop buying eggs altogether, he said.

For a dozen extra-large white eggs from the Urban Meadows brand, Mandell’s stores were paying a wholesale cost of $6.98 last week, a 117% increase from a year earlier at $3.21, he said.

Mandell is selling the eggs in his stores at $8.59, a 54% increase from $5.59 a year earlier, he said.

"The truth is we’re making less money and we’re selling less eggs. It’s not good for retailers," he said.

Supermarket chain Stew Leonard’s has not limited the number of eggs customers can buy but it might in the future if the panic-buying going on now ramps up, said Stew Leonard Jr., president and CEO of the Norwalk, Connecticut-based chain of eight stores, including two on Long Island.

The wholesale price of eggs for his stores has more than doubled since last year, but he hasn’t increased retail prices by an equivalent rate, he said.

"We’re eating a lot of the price increase. It takes a lot of guts to go over 10 bucks a dozen for eggs," he said.

The average price of one dozen extra-large white eggs in Stew Leonard’s stores is $9.99, double the price in August, the company said.

At a Lidl grocery store in Plainview on Tuesday, the cheapest grade A large white eggs were the Puglisi Egg Farms brand, $5.19 a dozen. In a nearby ShopRite, Eggland's Best was the cheapest brand of grade A large white eggs, $4.59 a dozen.

Premier Diner in Commack uses about 9,000 to 10,000 eggs a week to make a variety of foods, including omelets, pancakes, French toast and cakes, said Peter Georgatos, who co-founded the business with his wife 20 years ago.

Over the last two years, the diner’s wholesale expense for a case of 360 eggs has risen from $40 to $185, he said.

That hike, coupled with an overall 60% increase in the wholesale price of all the food the diner has been buying over the past four years, likely will lead to higher menu prices, Georgatos said.

"We’re going to have no choice, maybe the next two months, we might have to raise it a little bit, maybe 8%, just to cover the cost of the materials," he said.

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      'I had to keep my mouth shut'  Ronnie Tanner, a horse jockey in the '60s and '70s, and Kendrick Carmouche, a current jockey, spoke about the racism Black jockeys have faced. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports.

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          'I had to keep my mouth shut'  Ronnie Tanner, a horse jockey in the '60s and '70s, and Kendrick Carmouche, a current jockey, spoke about the racism Black jockeys have faced. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports.

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