Bird flu, Ukraine war push global egg prices higher

STORY: Severe outbreaks of bird flu in the United States and France are tightening global egg supplies and raising prices, leaving some consumers scrambling to find the household staple as Easter weekend approaches.

Bird flu has wiped out more than 19 million egg-laying chickens on commercial U.S. farms this year in the worst outbreak since 2015, according to Reuters calculations of federal and state data.

France, too, is suffering its worst outbreak ever in which about 8% of egg-laying hens have been culled.

Higher prices are particularly painful around the Easter and Passover holidays when demand jumps as families use eggs to bake and dye Easter eggs.

Prices are expected to stay elevated, egg producers said, as it will take months to resume operations on infected farms.

Iowa, the top U.S. egg-producing state, has suffered badly, with an executive at the second-largest egg producer there telling Reuters the whole industry is in a “general panic.”

Wholesale prices for large eggs in the U.S. Midwest are up nearly 200% from a year earlier, according to one data firm.

As a result, consumers could see higher prices for food products made with eggs, such as mayonnaise.

In addition to bird flu, the war in Ukraine is disrupting supply chains for egg buyers in the Middle East, who rely on imports from Ukraine, now the EU’s top egg producer.

Many Middle Eastern importers are now turning to other European countries, like Turkey, as a potential source for eggs.