Egg prices are plunging due to oversupply — and producers say margins are taking a hit as costs rise

Egg prices are lastly cooling in a welcome shift for shoppers.

However now a new problem is sending producers scrambling: they’ve too many eggs at a time when their enter costs are rising.

Because the market swings from final 12 months’s avian flu-driven scarcity to a rising oversupply, producers say decrease grocery retailer prices are masking the squeeze from price inflation.

“A 12 months in the past, all anyone might discuss was how costly eggs had been as a result of a lot of birds had been sadly misplaced,” stated Thomas Flocco, CEO of egg producer Pete & Gerry’s.

“We now have an oversupply state of affairs, which is why you are seeing in some instances a dozen eggs under a greenback,” Flocco stated.

Egg prices fell 44.7% year-over-year in March 2026, in accordance to Bureau of Labor Statistics information, marking a sharp reversal from final 12 months’s spike throughout the chook flu outbreak. The downturn follows a interval of flock rebuilding, which trade officers say left producers cautious of renewed shortages.

The worth collapse is creating new strain on margins at a time when producers can least afford it. Costs for inputs like feed, which spiked in 2022 and 2023, have been elevated for years, and now gasoline prices have additionally spiked due to the battle in Iran.

“All of these price pressures are discovering their method into our price construction,” Flocco stated. “About half of the price of a dozen premium eggs is feed. Diesel is a right away affect. We now have to drive to get these eggs.”

American Egg Board President and CEO Emily Metz echoed these issues, nothing that feed, gasoline and labor costs “didn’t disappear” and proceed to weigh on producers even as client demand returns and wholesale prices weaken.

The excellent news for producers is that demand is robust, in accordance to Flocco, as customers more and more prioritize protein of their diets.

Greater than 4 in 10 People say they are extra targeted on protein than they had been 5 years in the past, in accordance to a new survey commissioned by Pete & Gerry’s. It additionally discovered two-thirds of People stated they eat eggs weekly particularly for his or her protein, and many view complete meals like eggs as extra nutritious than processed alternate options.

Customers in search of eggs on the grocery retailer recently have discovered them plentiful and at good prices. However for producers, even that sturdy demand has not been sufficient to negate oversupply.

“What we’re seeing available in the market at this time is rather more about provide restoration and timing shifts than any elementary change in consumption,” stated Sherman Miller, CEO of Cal-Maine Meals, the most important egg distributor within the U.S., in April.

Metz additionally stated the present worth weak point just isn’t demand associated.

“[Prices] replicate provide rising quicker than demand can take in, pushed by flock restoration following [avian influenza], small farm progress and improved productiveness,” stated Metz.

That has not stopped President Donald Trump from taking credit score for the drop in egg prices as he tries to promote affordability forward of the midterm elections this fall.

“We acquired the prices down, method down,” Trump stated Thursday. “Decrease than it was 4 years earlier than.”