The chicken stands next to the egg roof of the chicken coop at Sunrise Farms in Petaluma, California on February 18, 2025.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Egg prices have so far dropped sharply in March with some advances to end the shortage, giving consumers much needed relief in supermarket staples.
According to USDA data, the cost of large white shell eggs decreased on average to an average of $6.85. This represents a $1.20 drop per dozen and a 15% return on previous USDA updates on February 28th.
“With no significant outbreaks of HPAI (highly pathogenic avian flu) have been detected for nearly two weeks, demand for shell eggs continues to decline in the new month,” the USDA wrote in its weekly update on March 7th. “This rest has provided an opportunity for production to advance in order to reduce the recent lack of shelled eggs.”
Egg prices are a key pressure point for consumers who are tired of sticky inflation and are worried about more price increases due to President Donald Trump’s wide range of imports. The full impact of the job in Canada, China and Mexico is still unknown, but so far stocks have been pulled back with concerns in 2025, and the move could further raise the price of commodities and tilt the drooping economy into a recession.
Certainly, egg prices have skyrocketed by more than 170% over a year ago, USDA data shows. The rise spurred an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, prompting allegations of anti-competitive practices from some of the nation’s largest egg producers. Companies including Cal-Maine Foods are touting the crushed avian flu outbreak as the main catalyst for rising egg prices, forced to push out millions of egg sales chickens cules.
“The main reason for the drop is the actions the Justice Department will take to investigate businesses for possible antitrust violations,” Joe Maxwell, president of the Farm Action Fund, told CNBC. “The dominant companies have a lot of control over the market, allowing them to raise prices and almost freely raise prices.”
“There has been a softening of egg demand from consumers, but given this is an ongoing trend, I don’t see this as an important factor,” Maxwell added.
Egg prices are a key factor in the February Consumer Price Index report, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics focusing on prices that rose 10.4% last month, 58.8% year-on-year. The marked-up price tag of the egg encouraged consumers to start shifting their breakfast habits.
