Eggs are still making headlines as people crack on about the rising cost of the grocery store staple.
Egg prices are averaging around $4 a dozen in the Southern U.S. after a sharp increase in 2022 that followed steady increases in years past.
In fact, the cost of one dozen eggs has nearly quadrupled since the summer of 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI).
A visual representation in the graph below shows the cost of eggs in the South vs. the average in major U.S. cities around the country.
Many reports cite bird flu, which has killed off tens of millions of chickens, as one reason for the soaring cost of eggs.
“We keep having more outbreaks. We’re losing birds, and that’s cutting production dramatically,” agriculture economist David Anderson told KSAT last week.
The price of eggs is expected to keep rising into the spring as demand around Easter time is high.
Despite the increase in egg prices due to a lower supply, they are still available on store shelves.
“The total flock is only down about 5% from its normal size of around 320 million hens,” according to the Associated Press.
Egg prices are expected to drop later in the year.