Americans love eggs, especially for breakfast. That's why the recent spike in egg prices in the U.S. has been a social media sensation. With the bird flu outbreak and the resulting egg shortage, a carton of eggs has already risen to more than $10 in recent weeks.
This is a 159% increase compared to the price of the product a year ago, and some stores have even placed limits on how many eggs each customer can buy.
Since the beginning of 2022 and the outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu strain, more than 166 million wild and domestic birds have been killed. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported in recent days that more than 30 million chickens have been killed since the beginning of this year – that is, 12.3% of caged birds in the US and about 8% of free-range chickens.
US authorities have turned to various European countries for help in addressing the shortages – despite the escalating tariff war between the EU and the Trump administration. In addition, Washington has previously imposed restrictions on egg imports from most European countries.
Over the past three years, Europe has also faced an outbreak of bird flu, which has caused shortages across the continent. The biggest problems have been encountered in Poland, Hungary and France, while strict measures have also been taken in Portugal and the United Kingdom. As a result, most European countries declare that they have limited capacity to export eggs.
As for Germany in particular, the country has ensured that its demand for eggs is covered in time for the Easter season, while also having extra stock for export. Experts, however, are discouraging consumers from making massive advance purchases of eggs amid concerns of shortages and are instead urging them to continue consuming eggs at their usual rate to avoid any supply problems.
At the same time, exporting eggs from Europe to the US is a difficult undertaking, also due to the logistical problems that are inevitable in transatlantic exports of fragile goods. And at the same time, air transport is very expensive, while exporting by sea, on the other hand, takes a lot of time.
Who has the potential for additional egg supplies?
Last month, Reuters reported that Turkey would increase egg exports to the US, following a deal with Washington to export an additional 15,000 tonnes of eggs.
According to Ibrahim Afyon, president of the Central Egg Producers Association of Turkey, the country will supply the United States with about 240 million eggs by July, a quantity six times higher than exports for the whole of last year. In return, Turkey will receive about $26 million.
As Bloomberg reported, the US is planning to issue new licenses for egg exports from the Netherlands, which is the world's largest egg exporter.
When will the egg crisis end?
Following a notable decline in demand and improvement in supply, U.S. egg prices fell somewhat in February.
However, it will take some time for the relief in price pressure to reach end consumers and at the same time, the risk of a new outbreak of bird flu and a new surge in demand is still looming.
Replacing the chickens that are killed takes about four to five months. And even when the young chickens reach an age where they can produce eggs, their quantity will initially be limited.
Poultry farms also take a long time to raise new chickens because there are strict hygiene and biosecurity rules, which means it takes even longer to make up for shortages.
Added to this is the reluctance of many producers to raise more birds, as a result of general concern about the new outbreak of bird flu. Thus, it is likely that egg prices will remain high for quite some time and that shortages will continue until the end of the year. (A2 Televizion)
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