No wonder American consumers are feeling shell shock.
The average price for a dozen eggs in the United States has jumped 50% in the past year, and the cost increase appears to have accelerated since November, the month Donald Trump was elected president, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In the week ending Jan. 18, a dozen yolks cost $5.29, a steep climb from February 2024, when the price was a little over $3.50 a dozen, data compiled by the NIQ consumer research group shows.
In November, the price of a dozen eggs edged up to $3.65, and in December the price rose again to $4.15, the BLS figures showed.
The chief reason for the price spike, economists and market analysts have said, is the highly infectious bird flu that has cut like a scythe through the chicken population and reduced egg supplies, along with strong consumer demand for eggs typical during the winter holiday season.
More than 13 million hens have been lost or slaughtered since December as a result of the bird flu outbreak, according to the Agriculture Department's latest Egg Markets Overview.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is one of several officials who are warning businesses against price gouging.
“The bird flu is affecting poultry farms and causing a national shortage, but this should not be an excuse for businesses to dramatically raise prices,” James said over the weekend.
Consumers are already outraged.
“It’s just robbery,” Minneapolis resident Sage Mills, who bought eggs to bake a birthday cake, told NBC News recently. “Eggs used to be kind of a staple food for us, but now, you know, you might as well just go out to eat.”
The egg price explosion also poses a potential political problem for Trump, who won the White House in November by hammering the Biden administration for high food and other costs. Trump also promised to bring grocery prices down on his first day in office.
Already, the Democrats are hammering Trump for not making good on his promise to "immediately" lower food prices.
In a sign of how sensitive the issue is to the Trump administration, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in her first official briefing last week, pointedly blamed the Biden administration for rising egg prices and even took a jab at the former president.
“There’s a lot of reporting out there that’s putting the onus on this White House for the increased cost of eggs,” Leavitt said. “I’d like to point out to each and every one of you that in 2024 when Joe Biden was in the Oval Office — or upstairs in the residence sleeping, I’m not so sure — egg prices increased 65% in this country.”
Under Biden, the Agriculture Department "directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore a lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage."
Leavitt did not mention why the chickens were culled. She said Brooke Collins, Trump’s pick to head the Agriculture Department, is already working with the White House economic team "on how we can address the egg shortage in this country."
At her confirmation hearing last month, Rollins said one of her top priorities would be to "immediately and comprehensively get a handle on the state of animal disease outbreaks.”
Rollins is president of the America First Policy Institute, a right-leaning think tank that worked closely with Trump’s campaign to help shape policy on various issues.
Trump has signed executive orders that, starting Tuesday, implement tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China — a move many economists predict will drive up the prices of other consumer goods and stall, or even stop, the strong postpandemic economic recovery that began under Biden.
"So at the end of the day, it’s the American taxpayer and American people who are going to pay and pay dearly for this stupid move," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said of the tariffs Sunday on MSNBC.
Canada and Mexico have already vowed to retaliate by implementing tariffs on goods from the United States.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said Beijing would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization “and take necessary countermeasures to firmly safeguard its rights and interests.”
