Egg Prices Predicted To Jump Over 40% In 2025: Usda
Elevated egg prices are expected to persist throughout the year as the industry grapples with ongoing bird flu outbreaks.
In fact, retail prices will continue to climb, rising 41.1% in 2025, according to the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service's (ERS) food outlook.
Retail egg prices will remain volatile, with month-to-month changes due to outbreaks of the virus, which began in 2022, according to the ERS. Prices have already shot up significantly over the past year as the industry faces the compounding effects of consecutive outbreaks devastating the U.S. egg supply.
Prices will likely remain elevated until the egg supply increases enough to relieve market pressures, at which point egg prices will likely decrease, according to Kevin Bergquist, a sector manager at the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute.
Retail egg prices will remain volatile, with month-to-month changes due to outbreaks of the virus, which began in 2022. (Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via / Getty Images)
As of Feb. 21, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has confirmed there have been 36 outbreaks in nine states. This has resulted in the loss of 26.8 million birds since the beginning of 2025.
In January alone, there were about 18.8 million commercial egg layers affected by bird flu, marking the highest monthly total since the virus started to spread rapidly.
Egg prices surged 15.2% in January, according to the Labor Department's consumer price index. It was the largest increase in egg prices since June 2015 and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total monthly rise in food prices, the department reported. On an annual basis, egg prices are up 53%.
A customer shops for eggs at an H-E-B grocery store on Feb. 8, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)
Prior to the bird flu outbreak in March 2022, flock numbers were at a level that supported lower egg prices, Bergquist said. He noted the wholesale price – which does not necessarily reflect consumer egg prices at the grocer's – was less than $1.50 per dozen. Today, some wholesale prices for certain egg cartons have surged past $9 per dozen, according to USDA data.
With the uptick in prices, some restaurants – already running on thin margins – have passed costs onto the consumer through temporary menu surcharges.
Some grocers have also imposed purchasing restrictions to keep shoppers from stockpiling the product. For instance, Amazon-owned Whole Foods posted signs on its shelves notifying customers that they can only buy three cartons of eggs at one time.
Shelves normally filled with egg cartoons at a Whole Foods store in New York City, (FOX Business)
Kroger previously confirmed to FOX Business that some banner divisions are limiting shoppers to two dozen eggs per trip, while Trader Joe's is limiting egg purchases to one dozen per customer per day.
