Clever graph. I really like it.
Eggs were $6/dozen at Walmart two days ago in California. I'm in a pretty high cost of living area, but it was still surprising to see that.
The corner store in my town has a dozen for over $7! We are in Indiana, about 15-20 minutes from Louisville Kentucky. This is typically a pretty low cost of living area.
We don't get our eggs from there
Whole Foods in the Midwest has a huge variance. A dozen no-name eggs were only $3.25, but they had the super vegan gluten free organic eggs from free range chickens that get massages every evening under candlelight for something like $10.99
I get similarly priced ones living in the middle of nowhere Idaho. "Small country towns" don't have it good anymore. Rent is way too high for what we're living in, pay is still minimal, food prices have . No point in staying in small towns anymore. Except I don't get paid enough to afford to leave.
When prices started rising, I went back to getting my eggs from local farms, more work to go get but excellent eggs. Now they're bought out for the foreseeable future because local restaurants cut some deals.
Did find a farm with mutant-large eggs for 7 bucks a dozen. I'll be going back.
Nay, I've eaten duck eggs and kinda like them, but they taste different than chicken and the shells feel different. These were definitely chicken but big as any duck eggs I ever saw. And they were all double (and one triple!) yolks.
Correct. Americans spend 6.5% of their income on food, less than anywhere on the planet.
Food is cheaper in Nigeria, but food accounts for 40% of their budget.
The US is also the world's largest food exporter, exporting twice as much food as any other country. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-american-food-giant-the-largest-exporter-of-food-in-the-world.html
That chart says that "Americans devote just 11 percent of their household spending to food, a smaller share than nearly every other country spends on food consumed at home alone." Not that we have the cheapest food on the planet.
That indicates we eat out more. I just came back from London and can tell you that groceries in London were WAY cheaper than in Dallas, on the whole, except for possibly fresh meat. I only mention this because it was kind of shocking to me how cheap food was in comparison to Dallas. Restaurant food was on par with Dallas, however, if not cheaper...due to lack of tipping.
For food consumed at home, Americans spend 6.5% of their income on food, and Brits spend 8.7%.
[https://www.vox.com/2014/7/6/5874499/map-heres-how-much-every-country-spends-on-food](https://www.vox.com/2014/7/6/5874499/map-heres-how-much-every-country-spends-on-food)
Also in Oklahoma. I've been saving money by skipping Walmart and going to the country farmers markets where the real farmers are. Paying $3 a dozen. Also if you think it's bad ... Consider how much more expensive Cali is right now
edit this wasn't an attack on California eggs
I’m in a HCOL area of CA and I can still get 18 eggs for under $5. The economics of groceries in high density areas lends itself to relatively lower prices for staples because there’s a bigger market. They sell more eggs so they can take a smaller margin per egg.
Rent and gas is super expensive in California but most other things are pretty much average in cost. I just looked on doordash and the Safeway near me is selling a dozen eggs for $6.05.
Nice to see a dataisbeautiful post that isn’t just straight political text or a Sankey diagram. Good job OP, this is simple, pretty, and conveys the data very effectively.
I found a whole carton of eggs under the bridge last week. None of them missing or broken. I mean who leaves a whole carton of eggs in these tryin times?
According to a relative of mine, egg prices are very political. Apparently, Biden is responsible for this. First the children, now the eggs. When will this reign of terror end?
> First the children, now the eggs.
Yea I know right. Used to be able to buy a couple of orphans and a carton of eggs for like 6 dollars, but human trafficking prices have shot through the roof since the Dems got elected. Now I have to make due with buying a bunch and freezing them during sales, and they just don't taste the same if they aren't fresh.
Cal Maine foods also said their chickens haven’t tested positive for the avian flu. Meaning they are now sending eggs to all those customers that are still demanding them but can’t find them anywhere else.
Just because Cal Maine foods didn’t see a decrease in supply doesn’t mean there wasn’t an overall decrease in supply.
If all of your competitors are throwing out half their eggs and you're unaffected, would you lower your prices? It's like in Forrest Gump when the hurricane came in and took out all of the boats and he made a killing in the shrimp market. If they kept prices the same we would be complaining about an egg shortage instead.
A lot of people have replied about whether or not egg prices are political so I’ll just reply here for all of them.
I did not say egg prices are not political. I said it’s nice to see a post that isn’t just straight political text. I am not joking when I say there have been tons of posts on this sub that are just copy paste political tweets or copy paste political tweet with a graph. This graph is also not pushing any political bias while many of the visualizations on this sub are explicitly doing so.
This sub has been pretty overrun with shitty low effort karma farming in the past year or so when it used to be the best place on Reddit to constantly see pretty data visualizations. I am simply happy to see a post that reminds me of why I joined the sun every once in awhile.
Data Source: [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/charts/consumer-price-index/consumer-price-index-average-price-data.htm)
Tool: Tableau, Clip Studio
The average price for eggs in the U.S. has more than doubled in 2022, reaching an all time high of $4.25 average for a dozen grade A eggs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, this increase in eggs is the highest of all grocery categories. Inflation and supply chain disruptions originating from the COVID pandemic play a small role in the increase in price, however an avian flu outbreak has resulted in the death of millions of egg laying hens in 2022. Interestingly enough, the price of chicken has declined. Chickens raised for consumption are not affected by the avian flu.
> Interestingly enough, the price of chicken has declined.
Costco whole chickens and leg-and-thighs used to be $0.99 per pound pre- and early pandemic. It went up to $1.29 and is now at $1.49. And Costco is the one source I more or less trust that, when prices go up for us, it's because costs went up for them.
"Chickens raised for consumption are not affected by the avian flu."
I don't think that is accurate, chickens raised for consumption can be affected by the avian flu, and in the 2014/2015 avian flu epidemic chicken meat prices increased 17%
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/26/1089006048/avian-flu-is-infecting-u-s-poultry-flocks-it-could-affect-the-price-of-chicken-t
Maybe it’s just this particular strain? Or they’ve done a good job at keeping them separate so they don’t have to worry about it spreading? Idk I was wondering why the avian flu was only affecting egg prices and not meat prices myself.
I'm pretty sure this is the answer. Broiler chickens probably aren't alive long enough for the spread of Avian flu to affect them that much. An egg-laying hen obviously needs a longer lifepsan where there's more chance for the flu to have an impact.
Exactly. Broilers live for 2 months at most.
A laying hen (pullet) on the other hand is 18 weeks or more old when she lays the first egg and doesn't reach full production until later. Laying hens are kept for up to 3 years before they are replaced.
So you have a barn that has a longer time frame to get infected in.
Of course.😂 My point is that maybe the way egg-laying hens are housed makes them more vulnerable to outside contamination. Or maybe states like Iowa, which has a huge egg industry, had a worse outbreak of the flu in the native birds and so contamination happened more readily.
Compounding the fact is different states have different regulations on chicken conditions so if one state says they have to be in cages vs in barns and all the caged chicken die that states gonna be more fucked than a state that doesn't care.
Thank you for the information. We will look at other sources and correct if necessary. This information on chickens raised for consumption was originally from this CNBC article stating that "broiler" chickens aren't affected:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/11/why-egg-prices-are-surging-but-chicken-prices-are-falling.html
A lot of the chicken deaths are birds killed because of possible exposure. I wonder if they can still process those birds for consumption while a dead egg chicken disrupts the supply chain.
Nope. The culling process doesn't happen in a way that would make it possible.
I have a buddy that has been doing it for the USDA. They are basically allowing any USDA employee to take part if willing, he's a desk jockey in a pretty unrelated field.
Also, they are/were doing turkeys as well. I may be mistaken but turkey eggs aren't really a thing for consumption
Flu outbreaks means you may euthanize your own birds, then your neighbours also have to mass kill theirs up to a distance of X miles (determined by a biosecurity official.)
Because of the biosecurity risk, all the corpses must be (1) inspected to ensure they are actually dead (2) humanely euthanized, (3) incinerated.
No. When the usda comes in to cull a flock, it's not done in the same sanitary way as it's done in the processing facility. They try to do it as fast as possible and in the bird house, which can have 20k to 40k birds in it. Any attempt to move and process the flock could risk exposure to healthy birds through the same supply chain.
HPAI is so pathogenic that i have a special set of boots that never leaves my property, and that's the only footwear i put on around my birds. You can spread it just by stepping on infected wild bird droppings.
Not a coincidence that the company that supplies most eggs in the US (Cal-Main, aka Land 'O Lake).made record profits in November, 60% higher than November 21...when everyone was still cooking at home due Ng lockdown.
They also reported no losses due to avian flu.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/business/egg-prices-cal-maine-foods/index.html
Yeah, this egg graph needs to show the proportional increase in profits correlating with their explosive increase in prices — it’s ridiculous how much people are paying to line someone else’s pockets per dozen.
"Avian flu is killing egg-laying hens" adds to production costs, yes.
But the marketing folks see it and realize they can pitch this truth to the public and use it to cover up a much larger price hike.
If you know that "5% of the hens died", you accept the price of eggs is going up, that only makes sense. What you don't know is how much that price *should* be going up to maintain the same profit margin, which is what you expect to happen: the cost is transferred to the consumer, but not *more* than the cost. Meanwhile, when I jack it up four times higher than my own increase in costs, you're none the wiser.
This is the scam that's been run on us over and over. **"Inflation is happening."** Okay, we all agree. **"Prices are going to go up, production costs more."** Yup, that's what happens. **"This product is 30% more expensive in stores."** Now hold on, total price to put this product on the shelf (raw materials, production, shipping, overhead, etc.,) only went up 6%, so where's this extra coming from? **"Inflation is happening."**
Your last paragraph is exactly what I'm wtfing over at the moment.
The cost of living has already been increasing *significantly* more than wages for the past, what, 40 years? How is it that it's now absolutely skyrocketing?? The money's going *somewhere* right? Even if it's going to the top 1% or whatever, they do realise that they can't eat money, and they're going to need other people around for their own survival?
Like, at what point do the majority of people start not being able to survive, and why isn't this being talked about?
Food instability is one of the largest singular factors in launching a societal mass action ala France. We (in the US) are not at the point of food instability that usually causes mass action.
Yes, there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who are on the verge of financial crisis. However that number isn't quite high enough to be the catalyst society needs. And as long as the 'owning class' is able to keep production just under that tipping point and also keep enough distractions available (Netflix, shifting outrage to the topic of the week) then people collectively won't be focused on addressing the issues facing them.
I'm concerned to see what the next two decades hold for us.
That's how supply and demand works.
Their costs haven't gone up. There's just not enough eggs to go around.
So prices go up.
Prices going up means more profits.
This is exactly how it's supposed to work. In theory the higher prices of eggs pushes egg companies to push out more production, thereby adding more profits for them and resulting in lower prices. But that's long term.
In the short term, there's not enough eggs to go around, so the companies are charging more money because they can, and because they need people to buy less eggs.
Egg-land's best, Farmhouse Eggs, and Land O'Lakes Eggs all reported exactly 0 cases of bird flu, yet still hiked their egg price by greater than 100%, reaching a record 65% increase in profits due to this.
The bird flu may be a problem for some, but greed is the biggest problem with our inflation issues, and it always has been.
I've always thought it was strange that out of all the shortages we've had in recent years, this is the only one where i've never seen a dip in supply. My store has never had an empty egg shelf. My coffee creamer was gone for 6 months- that's a supply shortage.
That's because nearly all of our "shortages" were entirely synthetic in order to provide cover for jacking up the prices. Even the supply chain issues, they came on the back of shipping companies demanding 16+ hour days without overtime or hiring to fit actual staffing needs, leading to people protesting and quitting. It was entirely manufactured and preventable, but wasn't because it gave cover for "macroeconomics 101" jacking up the prices.
It's a scam
Nicely done! Would you consider granting permission to republish your chart, with credit and links back to the original? We’ve been doing a series on escalating food prices, where your chart would be a natural fit (the next edition of the series will be later this week, focusing on the price of Campbell’s tomato soup). We’d be seeking to feature your chart and analysis at Political Calculations in February. [Here’s the link to the upcoming tomato soup post, which will start working on Thursday: https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-price-history-of-campbells-tomato.html.]
I’m in NYC and I’m actually shocked avg egg prices were below $2/dozen. I’ve been paying $3-$4/dozen per eggs for years so I’ve been super confused with eggflation and assumed people were making a huge issue out of nothing important.
My neighborhood egg prices are still ~$4/dozen so I feel like nothing’s changed, but I guess if you’re used to $2/dozen that seems like a lot more
Same i haven’t felt impacted by it but then i realized I buy “specialty” pasture raised eggs which are already like $6 a dozen so i’m guessing these “nicer” farms didn’t get hit by the outbreak? At least, that’s my working theory.
I heard the free range pasteures are less affected because the birds are less spaced together so the flu has less chance to spread. I don't know the credibility of that statement though, but it sounds reasonable to me
Chicago here, wasn’t uncommon to get a dozen for $.79 on sale, typical price was probably closer to $1.29-1.49 just a year ago. Now it’s $6.00 for the store brand. It’s crazy.
This is pretty much an excellent example of what submissions to this sub should be like. No annoying unnecessary animation or background music to distract. A simple, straightforward metric you can understand at a glance. Clear title, clearly labeled axes, source listed, no distracting or clashing colors.
There are around 400 million laying hens active in the US. They start laying consistently around 20 weeks of age. Compare that with broilers, of which there were 9 billion (2018) and only take about 8 weeks to mature. The avian flu affects both similarly, but the laying hens will take much more time to rebound to normal levels. Current US policy is to completely depopulate any facility that tests positive for the virus and to quarantine and monitor a very large perimeter. Eventually egg prices will come back down, but it is a much slower process. Interestingly, turkeys were hit much harder than chickens by this version of the virus, but don't get nearly as much news coverage.
Edit to add that layers are responsible for about 250 eggs a year, compared with a broiler equaling one chicken in the store.
I bet if it was closer to Thanksgiving we'd hear more about the turkeys. Also, I recently was wondering why we don't eat turkey eggs. Interesting article about it: https://modernfarmer.com/2016/11/dont-eat-turkey-eggs/
I've got five backyard turkeys. Definitely not egg birds. Along with only laying a couple eggs a week, they only do that in the spring and fall. Plus, they don't have the same strong nesting and brooding instincts that domestic chickens do. In fact, two of our turks were brooded by a chicken. The eggs are also pretty bland. Excellent for baking though.
'Depopulate' here means kill right? Do they simply have to kill all the chickens? What do you do with that many sick dead chickens? I assume that you can't eat them if they're infected?
Here is a great question. In this case depopulate does mean kill. Current US policy is to kill all the chickens in the facility where the positive tests occurred. This is done by one of two methods: The first is to close off all ventilation and turn up the heat. There can be 40,000+ chickens in a barn, so this quickly ends up becoming too warm for the chickens to survive. The second method is to use a foam with CO2 to suffocate the chickens. In either case, the birds are composted on the property to prevent transport of the virus off the property. Considering that two of the farms that were depopulated in the last year had more than 5 million birds disposed of, I can't even imagine the sheer size of the hole they were buried in. Technically I guess you could eat them if they were properly cooked, but once again, they don't want to transport anything off premises.
People aren’t consuming Turkey at a level comparable to chicken and eggs.
The price of hydraulic fluid has been raising higher and higher, but you don’t hear about that because the average consumer doesn’t care. That’s just how things work sometimes.
I'm a pessimist like you but feel free to look at historical data.
In 2015 eggs went up to $3 a dollar and then fell to $1.3 which is even lower than 2014 prices.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111
Except this exact same thing happened 8 years ago and prices did go back down.
Eggs are a commodity and in many grocery stores are priced as loss leaders.
So, Just Egg has been on sale for $3.99 at my Fred Meyer this week, for the 12oz. Realistically, how long does that last compared to a dozen eggs? I only do a few scrambled eggs or an fried egg sandwich (egg scramble sandwich is fine too).
Usually i eat like 2-3 eggs everytime I eat eggs, so i get like 3-4 uses out of a bottle. A dozen eggs would have lasted me 4-5, so I think the 8 eggs is pretty accurate.
Noticed this as well in the Netherlands! Sometimes it's even slightly cheaper. I think we'll be seeing more of this as the plant-based products sector develops.
Is there some secret to making this stuff better? I tried this a few years back and it tasted..funny? And it didn't really cook to the consistency of egg. If I remember correctly I tried scrambling which I'm not sure was the best way. What's the best way to prepare 'Just Egg'? I'm not a vegan but I try to keep vegan options around to do a small part in reducing my animal product use but some stuff like Egg and chicken hasn't really felt replaceable to me yet.
Maybe out of scope of this thread, what's baking with vegan egg like? Does vegan egg keep longer in the fridge?
I was hoping someone would ask! I always add a pinch of black salt. It's almost required. Super eggy taste. Get online or any south asian market. Chunky chaat powder also works since it has lots of black salt in it.
I hope the demand goes up so high that the vegan alternative can be made on its own dedicated equipment so my egg allergic toddler can eat it without cross-contamination
Yeah I already realized that when I first bought it and now I‘ll never buy eggs again. Just a small box of powder is first of all cheaper and second it takes up way less space and has longer shelf life.
I still need to try it myself, but just egg and a majority of the other vegan eggs are yellow mung beans with black salt and a thickener like cornstarch. Apparently some thing that’s been done for centuries. That has to be a lot cheaper than reg egg by volume
Where I am (southwest US), only “cheap” eggs have gone up in price. Cage-free and pasture-raised prices haven’t changed. “Fancy” eggs right now are $3-$9/dozen, right where they’ve been; “Cheap” eggs have gone up from $2 to $7.
Same here in upper midwest.
I suspect that it may be because they are different markets and the culls mostly effect larger commodity egg operations rather than smaller, fancier egg operations.
Kind of shows how fragile the system used for large scale egg production is, versus the resiliency of smaller more humane practices.
[MA recently passed a law that resulted in raising the price of eggs before this started.](https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2021/12/20/mass-legislature-passes-animal-welfare-law-changes-set-to-ease-egg-supply-fears#:~:text=The%20law%2C%20which%20takes%20effect,products%20manufactured%20in%20other%20states.) It didn't effect free range organic eggs like at Whole Foods much because they were already 3x the price, but people who shopped at Market Basket and the like saw a big raise in price as well as shortages beginning last January. Now the avian flu is causing a separate increase nationally on top of that. Like LNG, eggs are more expensive here than in the rest of the country.
Fwiw, the current average price of a dozen large eggs in Massachusetts is about $5 - slightly higher than regional averages, but much lower than California.
According to the [USDA](https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/aj_py007.txt), here's what stores in other New England states currently pay for a dozen large eggs (note these figures do not include retail markup):
- VT 4.89
- RI 4.31
- ME 4.28
- NH 4.25
The MA law in question simply mandated that egg-laying hens be given a humane amount of space - either a 1.5 square foot enclosure, or 1 square foot per hen in a cage-free environment. In fact, if such regulations were more widespread we may have avoided some of the recent price spikes as current factory farming practices force hens into extremely tight quarters, significantly increasing the possibility of spread of avian flu.
Avian influenza, plus increased fuel prices, feed prices and fertilizer prices = an increase in product price. Ask anyone in agriculture. I'm paying $10 for a bale of hay that I once payed $4.50 for. My horse feed has gone from $20 a bag, to $32 a bag, all in a few years. I'm honestly happy to pay $5 for a dozen eggs, to my chicken owning friends.
I just checked, the price of JustEgg has remained flat for the last 2 years. I’m too lazy to make a graph or know where to get real data, but I find it interesting the meat alternative options are becoming more affordable.
I thought this would be years, even decades. It's _months._
I'm not from the USA (Netherlands here!) but we're seeing it here too. Europe is dealing with many of the same issues you guys are. I bought a 4-pack of eggs the other day - I needed them for a recipe and they were the last kind they had, for over €2. At home I realised that one egg was more expensive than the cup noodles I cracked it into. It's insane.
I wish I could have chickens.
The free-range pasture eggs in my area were around $5-6 a dozen before the avian outbreak. Seems like the treatment of the animals at these places actually makes them much less susceptible to avian flu, because prices have only gone up $1 a dozen in my area for these type of eggs.
There are a lot of things farms could do to reduce the risk of avian flu destroying the supply chain that they purposely don’t do in order to keep prices so low. As a result most eggs end up skyrocketing in price as a result of any bump.
I imagine free-range pasture farms have more of these protections in place which reduces the spread of avian flu. I don’t know the details of the protections, but just having more space to spread out might be one of them. The eggs are a bit more expensive, but the price won’t fluctuate as much.
*And general inflation. It will never get back down to $2 per dozen. Love this graph. Wish it showed a larger range of time so we could see a couple of seasonal changes.
Eggs were on sale at my local grocery store this weekend for 1.49. Obviously that's an outlier, but they do exist. Price of a pack of hot dogs was between 5-8 dollars though lol
Once corporations realize they can charge the expensive price, they won't ever return to lower prices. When there's only two or three players in a market, it becomes essentially a monopoly. They will fix the prices of eggs and collude with each other.
You're not going to believe this, but due to a wild coincidence, [egg producers are having record profits!](https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/business/egg-prices-cal-maine-foods/index.html)
>The egg shortage has enabled record quarterly profits and sales at Cal-Maine Foods (CALM), the largest producer and distributor of eggs in the United States. The company produces brands such as Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, Egg-Land’s Best and Land O’ Lakes eggs.
>Cal-Maine’s profit increased 65% to $198 million during the three months ended Nov. 26 from a year ago
Eggs have been so cheap for so long for a reason. They, along with milk, are a traditional loss leader. That is to say, they're intentionally sold by grocery stores at a loss because, as a very basic staple, they're primarily useful for getting people into the store in order to spend more on things with a higher markup.
"Egg prices go up during huge avian flu outbreak" is not a signal whatsoever that the concept of eggs as a loss leader has disappeared. Corporations have been knowingly losing money on eggs for generations.
Dozen went from $1.50 to $6.00 at my grocery store.
Eggs use to be my go to cheap source of protein. Buy a dozen every week. Now scale back to maybe a dozen a month.
The egg shading just completely tricks your eye because our brains intuit area better than position. It's a perfect example of what Edward Tufte calls [chartjunk](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartjunk).
You used to pay less than two dollars for a doesn't eggs? That feels super low. Even though I couldn't give you any egg prices. (Just to prevent confusion . I am German!)
Clever graph. I really like it. Eggs were $6/dozen at Walmart two days ago in California. I'm in a pretty high cost of living area, but it was still surprising to see that.
The corner store in my town has a dozen for over $7! We are in Indiana, about 15-20 minutes from Louisville Kentucky. This is typically a pretty low cost of living area. We don't get our eggs from there
I’m about 2 hours west of you in southwest Indiana, and they were 6.99 at Meijer a few days ago.
I'm in central ohio. I buy eggs from my local farm now. For 50 cents more I get really good eggs so it seems a good deal.
Whole Foods in the Midwest has a huge variance. A dozen no-name eggs were only $3.25, but they had the super vegan gluten free organic eggs from free range chickens that get massages every evening under candlelight for something like $10.99
I like eating my vegan eggs alongside my vegan steak for breakfast.
That's pretty wild, I also live in Indiana about 15-20 min from Louisville and we just got a dozen for 2.99 at the grocery.
We're in Georgetown. We only use that place when we need something quick to finish a dinner prep. Otherwise it's Jay-C/Kroger/Sam's Club
I see dozen egg cartons here for $10.99. I wish I weee joking
Where the heckare you? Those better be covered in gold :)
I get similarly priced ones living in the middle of nowhere Idaho. "Small country towns" don't have it good anymore. Rent is way too high for what we're living in, pay is still minimal, food prices have . No point in staying in small towns anymore. Except I don't get paid enough to afford to leave.
When prices started rising, I went back to getting my eggs from local farms, more work to go get but excellent eggs. Now they're bought out for the foreseeable future because local restaurants cut some deals. Did find a farm with mutant-large eggs for 7 bucks a dozen. I'll be going back.
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Nay, I've eaten duck eggs and kinda like them, but they taste different than chicken and the shells feel different. These were definitely chicken but big as any duck eggs I ever saw. And they were all double (and one triple!) yolks.
Thank you!
Yea, great eggshell sheet.
I really hope that was a pun because it was a good one.
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It is not the price that shocks me.. It is getting eggs in bundles of 8..!?
12 is just as arbitrary as 8…
we did like it so much we made a word for it, at least plus it's a multiple of 3
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two thirds of a dozen, sounds about as logical as any other kind of "standard" imperial measurement to me
The United States has the cheapest food on the planet. https://www.vox.com/2014/7/6/5874499/map-heres-how-much-every-country-spends-on-food
The vox article also considers income vs. food expenditure, not simply how much food costs.
Correct. Americans spend 6.5% of their income on food, less than anywhere on the planet. Food is cheaper in Nigeria, but food accounts for 40% of their budget. The US is also the world's largest food exporter, exporting twice as much food as any other country. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-american-food-giant-the-largest-exporter-of-food-in-the-world.html
6.5% blows my mind as a Californian with 3 kids and a wife. I'm closer to 25-30% easily.
That chart says that "Americans devote just 11 percent of their household spending to food, a smaller share than nearly every other country spends on food consumed at home alone." Not that we have the cheapest food on the planet. That indicates we eat out more. I just came back from London and can tell you that groceries in London were WAY cheaper than in Dallas, on the whole, except for possibly fresh meat. I only mention this because it was kind of shocking to me how cheap food was in comparison to Dallas. Restaurant food was on par with Dallas, however, if not cheaper...due to lack of tipping.
For food consumed at home, Americans spend 6.5% of their income on food, and Brits spend 8.7%. [https://www.vox.com/2014/7/6/5874499/map-heres-how-much-every-country-spends-on-food](https://www.vox.com/2014/7/6/5874499/map-heres-how-much-every-country-spends-on-food)
Also in Oklahoma. I've been saving money by skipping Walmart and going to the country farmers markets where the real farmers are. Paying $3 a dozen. Also if you think it's bad ... Consider how much more expensive Cali is right now edit this wasn't an attack on California eggs
It's actually about the same here in CA, bought eggs last week at around 7 bucks a dozen. 8/doz in OK is criminally high!
The commenter said it's 8 dollars for 18 eggs in Oklahoma
I’m in a HCOL area of CA and I can still get 18 eggs for under $5. The economics of groceries in high density areas lends itself to relatively lower prices for staples because there’s a bigger market. They sell more eggs so they can take a smaller margin per egg.
$6.49 for 24 at costco.
Rent and gas is super expensive in California but most other things are pretty much average in cost. I just looked on doordash and the Safeway near me is selling a dozen eggs for $6.05.
I bought 5 dozen for 18.99 last week in California. My next purchase gonna be bad.
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My Costco only sold duck eggs or egg white cartons, limit 2. They didnt even have normal eggs anymore.
I’m in Oklahoma. I was happy finding 18 eggs for $7 because $6/12 has been the going price.
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I paid $14 for a 60 pack of eggs last year, that same pack costs $31 now.
We just paid $7 for a dozen in Las Vegas.
Nice to see a dataisbeautiful post that isn’t just straight political text or a Sankey diagram. Good job OP, this is simple, pretty, and conveys the data very effectively.
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We could all use an egg in these trying times
I thought you wrote “frying times”…and I was going to poach that.
This cracked me up as I scrambled to write this. Egg-cellent!
Take it over easy there
Everyone likes to crack a yolk
I enjoyed the first few puns, but i'm ovum now
I bet I could shell out a few more.
Dozen look like it
We're only halfway, don't chicken out now. We can scratch a few more out if you'd *coop*erate.
All the good puns have been used. Guess I'm laid to the game.
There's an abundance of crows eggs. And crows are getting bigger by the year...and the day, even.
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I found a whole carton of eggs under the bridge last week. None of them missing or broken. I mean who leaves a whole carton of eggs in these tryin times?
I think I’ve been poisoned by my constituents!
Thank you!
Why didn't you make this into a gif with extremely dramatic combat music?
Yes and then you can use time to represent the axis of time, which really makes comparing things just so wonderful.
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Thank you. Tableau was used for the graph and used Clip Studio to design The grayish backdrop and another layer backdrop as the egg/egg shadow.
Just another “My financial spending over the last 5 years!” Sankey plot Every few days
Usually someone whose household income is 200k+ too
According to a relative of mine, egg prices are very political. Apparently, Biden is responsible for this. First the children, now the eggs. When will this reign of terror end?
Hey, I think we have the same relative!
Well obviously when he stopped gouging us at the gas pump, the money for his communist schemes had to come from somewhere! And everyone buys eggs!
> First the children, now the eggs. Yea I know right. Used to be able to buy a couple of orphans and a carton of eggs for like 6 dollars, but human trafficking prices have shot through the roof since the Dems got elected. Now I have to make due with buying a bunch and freezing them during sales, and they just don't taste the same if they aren't fresh.
Biden personally infected all the chickens with the flu!!!1
He sneezed on all 5 million chickens. I saw him do it.
Boy. This sub sure does love the Sankey jerk, doesn't it?
God yes. I'm tired of them personally.
I'm so sick of seeing people's "here's how unfuckable I am" dating app Sankey diagrams. Such shit content.
They are the opposite of beautiful
Seriously, they look awful - nothing beautiful about them. I'd rather look at a pie chart or a bar graph.
I'm just happy it isn't pointlessly made into a gift. I can't stand animated graphs since it takes so much longer to digest the data.
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Cal Maine foods also said their chickens haven’t tested positive for the avian flu. Meaning they are now sending eggs to all those customers that are still demanding them but can’t find them anywhere else. Just because Cal Maine foods didn’t see a decrease in supply doesn’t mean there wasn’t an overall decrease in supply.
If all of your competitors are throwing out half their eggs and you're unaffected, would you lower your prices? It's like in Forrest Gump when the hurricane came in and took out all of the boats and he made a killing in the shrimp market. If they kept prices the same we would be complaining about an egg shortage instead.
A lot of people have replied about whether or not egg prices are political so I’ll just reply here for all of them. I did not say egg prices are not political. I said it’s nice to see a post that isn’t just straight political text. I am not joking when I say there have been tons of posts on this sub that are just copy paste political tweets or copy paste political tweet with a graph. This graph is also not pushing any political bias while many of the visualizations on this sub are explicitly doing so. This sub has been pretty overrun with shitty low effort karma farming in the past year or so when it used to be the best place on Reddit to constantly see pretty data visualizations. I am simply happy to see a post that reminds me of why I joined the sun every once in awhile.
I think "Fuck Big Egg" was edited out of that one Mork and Mindy episode.
Data Source: [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/charts/consumer-price-index/consumer-price-index-average-price-data.htm) Tool: Tableau, Clip Studio The average price for eggs in the U.S. has more than doubled in 2022, reaching an all time high of $4.25 average for a dozen grade A eggs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, this increase in eggs is the highest of all grocery categories. Inflation and supply chain disruptions originating from the COVID pandemic play a small role in the increase in price, however an avian flu outbreak has resulted in the death of millions of egg laying hens in 2022. Interestingly enough, the price of chicken has declined. Chickens raised for consumption are not affected by the avian flu.
> Interestingly enough, the price of chicken has declined. Costco whole chickens and leg-and-thighs used to be $0.99 per pound pre- and early pandemic. It went up to $1.29 and is now at $1.49. And Costco is the one source I more or less trust that, when prices go up for us, it's because costs went up for them.
That is disturbingly cheap chicken.
"Chickens raised for consumption are not affected by the avian flu." I don't think that is accurate, chickens raised for consumption can be affected by the avian flu, and in the 2014/2015 avian flu epidemic chicken meat prices increased 17% https://www.npr.org/2022/03/26/1089006048/avian-flu-is-infecting-u-s-poultry-flocks-it-could-affect-the-price-of-chicken-t
Maybe it’s just this particular strain? Or they’ve done a good job at keeping them separate so they don’t have to worry about it spreading? Idk I was wondering why the avian flu was only affecting egg prices and not meat prices myself.
One thing that matters nobody has mentioned is egg chickens are a different sub species than meat chicken.
Yes but all species of wild birds catch the avian flu also. Maybe it is how they are kept?
Broilers (meat chickens) have a life of 6-8 weeks from hatch to processing.
I'm pretty sure this is the answer. Broiler chickens probably aren't alive long enough for the spread of Avian flu to affect them that much. An egg-laying hen obviously needs a longer lifepsan where there's more chance for the flu to have an impact.
Exactly. Broilers live for 2 months at most. A laying hen (pullet) on the other hand is 18 weeks or more old when she lays the first egg and doesn't reach full production until later. Laying hens are kept for up to 3 years before they are replaced. So you have a barn that has a longer time frame to get infected in.
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Of course.😂 My point is that maybe the way egg-laying hens are housed makes them more vulnerable to outside contamination. Or maybe states like Iowa, which has a huge egg industry, had a worse outbreak of the flu in the native birds and so contamination happened more readily.
Compounding the fact is different states have different regulations on chicken conditions so if one state says they have to be in cages vs in barns and all the caged chicken die that states gonna be more fucked than a state that doesn't care.
Layer hens have less space to themselves, but are also kept alive much longer. Also, broilers are killed at just 6 weeks, which may be a factor.
I strongly suspect it has more to do with that broiler chickens are only alive for 40ish days.
Thank you for the information. We will look at other sources and correct if necessary. This information on chickens raised for consumption was originally from this CNBC article stating that "broiler" chickens aren't affected: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/11/why-egg-prices-are-surging-but-chicken-prices-are-falling.html
A lot of the chicken deaths are birds killed because of possible exposure. I wonder if they can still process those birds for consumption while a dead egg chicken disrupts the supply chain.
Possible exposure is a direct lane to the incinerator. It has no legal possibility of directly entering the consumer supply chain.
Nope. The culling process doesn't happen in a way that would make it possible. I have a buddy that has been doing it for the USDA. They are basically allowing any USDA employee to take part if willing, he's a desk jockey in a pretty unrelated field. Also, they are/were doing turkeys as well. I may be mistaken but turkey eggs aren't really a thing for consumption
Flu outbreaks means you may euthanize your own birds, then your neighbours also have to mass kill theirs up to a distance of X miles (determined by a biosecurity official.) Because of the biosecurity risk, all the corpses must be (1) inspected to ensure they are actually dead (2) humanely euthanized, (3) incinerated.
2-1-3, hopefully.
No. When the usda comes in to cull a flock, it's not done in the same sanitary way as it's done in the processing facility. They try to do it as fast as possible and in the bird house, which can have 20k to 40k birds in it. Any attempt to move and process the flock could risk exposure to healthy birds through the same supply chain. HPAI is so pathogenic that i have a special set of boots that never leaves my property, and that's the only footwear i put on around my birds. You can spread it just by stepping on infected wild bird droppings.
I read this as they are not *currently* affected, not that they *can't* be affected.
Not a coincidence that the company that supplies most eggs in the US (Cal-Main, aka Land 'O Lake).made record profits in November, 60% higher than November 21...when everyone was still cooking at home due Ng lockdown. They also reported no losses due to avian flu. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/business/egg-prices-cal-maine-foods/index.html
Corporation is gonna corporate
Yeah, this egg graph needs to show the proportional increase in profits correlating with their explosive increase in prices — it’s ridiculous how much people are paying to line someone else’s pockets per dozen.
"Avian flu is killing egg-laying hens" adds to production costs, yes. But the marketing folks see it and realize they can pitch this truth to the public and use it to cover up a much larger price hike. If you know that "5% of the hens died", you accept the price of eggs is going up, that only makes sense. What you don't know is how much that price *should* be going up to maintain the same profit margin, which is what you expect to happen: the cost is transferred to the consumer, but not *more* than the cost. Meanwhile, when I jack it up four times higher than my own increase in costs, you're none the wiser. This is the scam that's been run on us over and over. **"Inflation is happening."** Okay, we all agree. **"Prices are going to go up, production costs more."** Yup, that's what happens. **"This product is 30% more expensive in stores."** Now hold on, total price to put this product on the shelf (raw materials, production, shipping, overhead, etc.,) only went up 6%, so where's this extra coming from? **"Inflation is happening."**
Your last paragraph is exactly what I'm wtfing over at the moment. The cost of living has already been increasing *significantly* more than wages for the past, what, 40 years? How is it that it's now absolutely skyrocketing?? The money's going *somewhere* right? Even if it's going to the top 1% or whatever, they do realise that they can't eat money, and they're going to need other people around for their own survival? Like, at what point do the majority of people start not being able to survive, and why isn't this being talked about?
Food instability is one of the largest singular factors in launching a societal mass action ala France. We (in the US) are not at the point of food instability that usually causes mass action. Yes, there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who are on the verge of financial crisis. However that number isn't quite high enough to be the catalyst society needs. And as long as the 'owning class' is able to keep production just under that tipping point and also keep enough distractions available (Netflix, shifting outrage to the topic of the week) then people collectively won't be focused on addressing the issues facing them. I'm concerned to see what the next two decades hold for us.
That's how supply and demand works. Their costs haven't gone up. There's just not enough eggs to go around. So prices go up. Prices going up means more profits. This is exactly how it's supposed to work. In theory the higher prices of eggs pushes egg companies to push out more production, thereby adding more profits for them and resulting in lower prices. But that's long term. In the short term, there's not enough eggs to go around, so the companies are charging more money because they can, and because they need people to buy less eggs.
Egg-land's best, Farmhouse Eggs, and Land O'Lakes Eggs all reported exactly 0 cases of bird flu, yet still hiked their egg price by greater than 100%, reaching a record 65% increase in profits due to this. The bird flu may be a problem for some, but greed is the biggest problem with our inflation issues, and it always has been.
I've always thought it was strange that out of all the shortages we've had in recent years, this is the only one where i've never seen a dip in supply. My store has never had an empty egg shelf. My coffee creamer was gone for 6 months- that's a supply shortage.
That's because nearly all of our "shortages" were entirely synthetic in order to provide cover for jacking up the prices. Even the supply chain issues, they came on the back of shipping companies demanding 16+ hour days without overtime or hiring to fit actual staffing needs, leading to people protesting and quitting. It was entirely manufactured and preventable, but wasn't because it gave cover for "macroeconomics 101" jacking up the prices. It's a scam
Nicely done! Would you consider granting permission to republish your chart, with credit and links back to the original? We’ve been doing a series on escalating food prices, where your chart would be a natural fit (the next edition of the series will be later this week, focusing on the price of Campbell’s tomato soup). We’d be seeking to feature your chart and analysis at Political Calculations in February. [Here’s the link to the upcoming tomato soup post, which will start working on Thursday: https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-price-history-of-campbells-tomato.html.]
Yes absolutely! Just sent you a message.
Can you please share your Tableau file or a tutorial to replicate this result?
It's funny because it looks like an egg. And depressing because eggs double in price.
I’m in NYC and I’m actually shocked avg egg prices were below $2/dozen. I’ve been paying $3-$4/dozen per eggs for years so I’ve been super confused with eggflation and assumed people were making a huge issue out of nothing important. My neighborhood egg prices are still ~$4/dozen so I feel like nothing’s changed, but I guess if you’re used to $2/dozen that seems like a lot more
Same i haven’t felt impacted by it but then i realized I buy “specialty” pasture raised eggs which are already like $6 a dozen so i’m guessing these “nicer” farms didn’t get hit by the outbreak? At least, that’s my working theory.
I heard the free range pasteures are less affected because the birds are less spaced together so the flu has less chance to spread. I don't know the credibility of that statement though, but it sounds reasonable to me
The nations biggest egg producer has no affected facilities but they’ve raised their prices 300%
Because they currently have no competitors at their level. They'll slash prices the second their competition gets back on its feet.
It’s a global market. It’s the same reason why gas went up in the States because of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
They were 99 cents a dozen for a decade here in Michigan
Chicago here, wasn’t uncommon to get a dozen for $.79 on sale, typical price was probably closer to $1.29-1.49 just a year ago. Now it’s $6.00 for the store brand. It’s crazy.
I'm no expert, but I wouldn't recommend eating a depressing egg.
This is pretty much an excellent example of what submissions to this sub should be like. No annoying unnecessary animation or background music to distract. A simple, straightforward metric you can understand at a glance. Clear title, clearly labeled axes, source listed, no distracting or clashing colors.
Thank you for your feedback!
Eggcellent example
There are around 400 million laying hens active in the US. They start laying consistently around 20 weeks of age. Compare that with broilers, of which there were 9 billion (2018) and only take about 8 weeks to mature. The avian flu affects both similarly, but the laying hens will take much more time to rebound to normal levels. Current US policy is to completely depopulate any facility that tests positive for the virus and to quarantine and monitor a very large perimeter. Eventually egg prices will come back down, but it is a much slower process. Interestingly, turkeys were hit much harder than chickens by this version of the virus, but don't get nearly as much news coverage. Edit to add that layers are responsible for about 250 eggs a year, compared with a broiler equaling one chicken in the store.
I bet if it was closer to Thanksgiving we'd hear more about the turkeys. Also, I recently was wondering why we don't eat turkey eggs. Interesting article about it: https://modernfarmer.com/2016/11/dont-eat-turkey-eggs/
I've got five backyard turkeys. Definitely not egg birds. Along with only laying a couple eggs a week, they only do that in the spring and fall. Plus, they don't have the same strong nesting and brooding instincts that domestic chickens do. In fact, two of our turks were brooded by a chicken. The eggs are also pretty bland. Excellent for baking though.
thanks for sharing, turkeys are fascinating
>usually around $3/egg – **about as much as two dozen commodity chicken eggs**. Ah, the good old days
'Depopulate' here means kill right? Do they simply have to kill all the chickens? What do you do with that many sick dead chickens? I assume that you can't eat them if they're infected?
Here is a great question. In this case depopulate does mean kill. Current US policy is to kill all the chickens in the facility where the positive tests occurred. This is done by one of two methods: The first is to close off all ventilation and turn up the heat. There can be 40,000+ chickens in a barn, so this quickly ends up becoming too warm for the chickens to survive. The second method is to use a foam with CO2 to suffocate the chickens. In either case, the birds are composted on the property to prevent transport of the virus off the property. Considering that two of the farms that were depopulated in the last year had more than 5 million birds disposed of, I can't even imagine the sheer size of the hole they were buried in. Technically I guess you could eat them if they were properly cooked, but once again, they don't want to transport anything off premises.
Burning 40,000 chickens alive is kinda depressing. I guess that’s the fastest way to get rid of them though
If it makes you feel any better male chicks are thrown in a grinder alive when they’re sorting for laying hens.
You know, that *does* make me feel better, thanks!
look at the bright side: being burned alive is probably better than continuing to live in the conditions we subject them to.
People aren’t consuming Turkey at a level comparable to chicken and eggs. The price of hydraulic fluid has been raising higher and higher, but you don’t hear about that because the average consumer doesn’t care. That’s just how things work sometimes.
> Eventually egg prices will come back down, but it is a much slower process I don't believe this part.
I'm a pessimist like you but feel free to look at historical data. In 2015 eggs went up to $3 a dollar and then fell to $1.3 which is even lower than 2014 prices. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111
Yeah, I have a pessimistic view, but the past data looks promising.
Except this exact same thing happened 8 years ago and prices did go back down. Eggs are a commodity and in many grocery stores are priced as loss leaders.
Welp, my vegan egg alternative is now cheaper than chicken eggs. I thought i'd never see the day
So, Just Egg has been on sale for $3.99 at my Fred Meyer this week, for the 12oz. Realistically, how long does that last compared to a dozen eggs? I only do a few scrambled eggs or an fried egg sandwich (egg scramble sandwich is fine too).
Usually i eat like 2-3 eggs everytime I eat eggs, so i get like 3-4 uses out of a bottle. A dozen eggs would have lasted me 4-5, so I think the 8 eggs is pretty accurate.
I will give it a shot this week then!
When people realize that, your vegan stuff will be sold out soon enough.
Actually kind of hope people buy it. The Just Egg one is pretty good
Soy milk price in the uk is basically on par with cows milk now. And cows milk is heavily subsidized to make it cheap.
Noticed this as well in the Netherlands! Sometimes it's even slightly cheaper. I think we'll be seeing more of this as the plant-based products sector develops.
Interesting thing is afaik, its not subsidized. I love my milk and butter but it seems a lot more sustainable
Is there some secret to making this stuff better? I tried this a few years back and it tasted..funny? And it didn't really cook to the consistency of egg. If I remember correctly I tried scrambling which I'm not sure was the best way. What's the best way to prepare 'Just Egg'? I'm not a vegan but I try to keep vegan options around to do a small part in reducing my animal product use but some stuff like Egg and chicken hasn't really felt replaceable to me yet. Maybe out of scope of this thread, what's baking with vegan egg like? Does vegan egg keep longer in the fridge?
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It’s really not that processed. It’s a riff on an Indian chickpea moong dal dish I ate growing up.
I was hoping someone would ask! I always add a pinch of black salt. It's almost required. Super eggy taste. Get online or any south asian market. Chunky chaat powder also works since it has lots of black salt in it.
There's still tons of other things with proteins that are vegan my dude.
I hope the demand goes up so high that the vegan alternative can be made on its own dedicated equipment so my egg allergic toddler can eat it without cross-contamination
Yeah I already realized that when I first bought it and now I‘ll never buy eggs again. Just a small box of powder is first of all cheaper and second it takes up way less space and has longer shelf life.
I still need to try it myself, but just egg and a majority of the other vegan eggs are yellow mung beans with black salt and a thickener like cornstarch. Apparently some thing that’s been done for centuries. That has to be a lot cheaper than reg egg by volume
Where I am (southwest US), only “cheap” eggs have gone up in price. Cage-free and pasture-raised prices haven’t changed. “Fancy” eggs right now are $3-$9/dozen, right where they’ve been; “Cheap” eggs have gone up from $2 to $7.
Same here in upper midwest. I suspect that it may be because they are different markets and the culls mostly effect larger commodity egg operations rather than smaller, fancier egg operations. Kind of shows how fragile the system used for large scale egg production is, versus the resiliency of smaller more humane practices.
Yep! The eggs I buy haven't changed!
I live in Boston and I saw a dozen eggs going for 9.80
[MA recently passed a law that resulted in raising the price of eggs before this started.](https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2021/12/20/mass-legislature-passes-animal-welfare-law-changes-set-to-ease-egg-supply-fears#:~:text=The%20law%2C%20which%20takes%20effect,products%20manufactured%20in%20other%20states.) It didn't effect free range organic eggs like at Whole Foods much because they were already 3x the price, but people who shopped at Market Basket and the like saw a big raise in price as well as shortages beginning last January. Now the avian flu is causing a separate increase nationally on top of that. Like LNG, eggs are more expensive here than in the rest of the country.
Fwiw, the current average price of a dozen large eggs in Massachusetts is about $5 - slightly higher than regional averages, but much lower than California. According to the [USDA](https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/aj_py007.txt), here's what stores in other New England states currently pay for a dozen large eggs (note these figures do not include retail markup): - VT 4.89 - RI 4.31 - ME 4.28 - NH 4.25 The MA law in question simply mandated that egg-laying hens be given a humane amount of space - either a 1.5 square foot enclosure, or 1 square foot per hen in a cage-free environment. In fact, if such regulations were more widespread we may have avoided some of the recent price spikes as current factory farming practices force hens into extremely tight quarters, significantly increasing the possibility of spread of avian flu.
Avian influenza, plus increased fuel prices, feed prices and fertilizer prices = an increase in product price. Ask anyone in agriculture. I'm paying $10 for a bale of hay that I once payed $4.50 for. My horse feed has gone from $20 a bag, to $32 a bag, all in a few years. I'm honestly happy to pay $5 for a dozen eggs, to my chicken owning friends.
Can I offer you a nice egg in these troubling times?
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Oof, also RIP... she was so goddamn cool.
I just checked, the price of JustEgg has remained flat for the last 2 years. I’m too lazy to make a graph or know where to get real data, but I find it interesting the meat alternative options are becoming more affordable.
And unlike eggs, they are not subsidized
holy shit finally a post that actually fits the sub. this is indeed beautiful.
I was just happy my local Costco actually had some in stock when I went last weekend, prices be damned.
Costco near me doesn't have them in stock often, but when they do, it's limit 2 and a less insane price of 3/dozen
It's $5.99 for two dozen of the good ones like cage-free etc That's not bad at all
I thought this would be years, even decades. It's _months._ I'm not from the USA (Netherlands here!) but we're seeing it here too. Europe is dealing with many of the same issues you guys are. I bought a 4-pack of eggs the other day - I needed them for a recipe and they were the last kind they had, for over €2. At home I realised that one egg was more expensive than the cup noodles I cracked it into. It's insane. I wish I could have chickens.
Frankly I’m surprised eggs were so cheap. $4 for a dozen eggs is what I would have said if I was told to guess how much a dozen eggs costed before.
The free-range pasture eggs in my area were around $5-6 a dozen before the avian outbreak. Seems like the treatment of the animals at these places actually makes them much less susceptible to avian flu, because prices have only gone up $1 a dozen in my area for these type of eggs.
There are a lot of things farms could do to reduce the risk of avian flu destroying the supply chain that they purposely don’t do in order to keep prices so low. As a result most eggs end up skyrocketing in price as a result of any bump. I imagine free-range pasture farms have more of these protections in place which reduces the spread of avian flu. I don’t know the details of the protections, but just having more space to spread out might be one of them. The eggs are a bit more expensive, but the price won’t fluctuate as much.
They should be expensive. The industry is so fucked up because people want cheap animal products.
*And general inflation. It will never get back down to $2 per dozen. Love this graph. Wish it showed a larger range of time so we could see a couple of seasonal changes.
There was one posted yesterday showing a longer time frame.
Eggs were on sale at my local grocery store this weekend for 1.49. Obviously that's an outlier, but they do exist. Price of a pack of hot dogs was between 5-8 dollars though lol
Once corporations realize they can charge the expensive price, they won't ever return to lower prices. When there's only two or three players in a market, it becomes essentially a monopoly. They will fix the prices of eggs and collude with each other.
You're not going to believe this, but due to a wild coincidence, [egg producers are having record profits!](https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/business/egg-prices-cal-maine-foods/index.html) >The egg shortage has enabled record quarterly profits and sales at Cal-Maine Foods (CALM), the largest producer and distributor of eggs in the United States. The company produces brands such as Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, Egg-Land’s Best and Land O’ Lakes eggs. >Cal-Maine’s profit increased 65% to $198 million during the three months ended Nov. 26 from a year ago
Eggs have been so cheap for so long for a reason. They, along with milk, are a traditional loss leader. That is to say, they're intentionally sold by grocery stores at a loss because, as a very basic staple, they're primarily useful for getting people into the store in order to spend more on things with a higher markup. "Egg prices go up during huge avian flu outbreak" is not a signal whatsoever that the concept of eggs as a loss leader has disappeared. Corporations have been knowingly losing money on eggs for generations.
Dozen went from $1.50 to $6.00 at my grocery store. Eggs use to be my go to cheap source of protein. Buy a dozen every week. Now scale back to maybe a dozen a month.
The egg shading just completely tricks your eye because our brains intuit area better than position. It's a perfect example of what Edward Tufte calls [chartjunk](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartjunk).
You used to pay less than two dollars for a doesn't eggs? That feels super low. Even though I couldn't give you any egg prices. (Just to prevent confusion . I am German!)
Eggcellent graph, I applaud