Egg costs will stay elevated as Easter approaches, AG Sec. Rollins says

FOX Enterprise’ Madison Alworth discusses the Trump administration’s plan to decrease egg costs.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins warned that the value of eggs will stay elevated, particularly as we close to the vacations that closely depend on the product, Easter and Passover.

Rollins, addressing reporters on the White Home on Tuesday, mentioned costs might “inch back up” 

“We’re going into the Easter season. This is always the highest price for eggs,” mentioned Rollins, who outlined a $1 billion “five-pronged” technique to handle the egg disaster. 

Final month, Rollins introduced her plan to curb the rising variety of extremely pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or chicken flu, outbreaks that started in 2022 and have since decimated flocks across the nation and created a major scarcity within the U.S. egg provide. 

The severity of the difficulty precipitated antitrust enforcers with the Justice Division to look into the reason for rising costs, together with whether or not egg producers have conspired to artificially inflate them by holding again provide, sources informed The Wall Avenue Journal.

FARMERS REACT TO TRUMP’S PLAN TO COMBAT EGG CRISIS

The federal government company plans to take a position a further $500 million into biosecurity measures, $400 million in monetary aid for affected farmers and $100 million for vaccine analysis. The division can be seeking to discover approach to scale back regulatory burdens and discover momentary import choices.  

Whereas farmers informed FOX Enterprise that it is a important step in fixing this disaster, they are saying it would take time to see any main impression. Firms are nonetheless imposing buying limits on merchandise as cabinets stay empty and costs are elevated. These costs, reaching new information in 2025, aren’t going to ease anytime quickly, both.

Signage notes a restrict as a result of restricted portions of eggs at a grocery retailer in Manhattan Seaside, California, on January 2, 2025.  (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / Getty Photographs)

Bernt Nelson, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Basis, mentioned Tuesday that the compounding results of inflation and chicken flu precipitated egg costs to shoot up greater than 350% per dozen in comparison with this time final 12 months. 

“Unlike other products, in many applications such as baking, eggs don’t have good substitutes,” Nelson mentioned. “They are also a healthy – and typically the most affordable – source of protein, which makes them desirable even if prices go up. This relatively unchanging demand for eggs means that supply factors can have a big impact on egg prices.” 

In January, egg costs surged, in response to the Labor Division’s shopper worth index. 

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The outbreaks have affected over 166 million birds, together with 127 million egg-laying birds, since 2022, resulting in a median lack of 42.3 million egg layers per 12 months, Nelson mentioned. That is equal to about 11% of the 5-year common annual layer stock of 383 million hens because the outbreak started, in response to Nelson. 

In February alone, about 12 million birds, principally layers, have been misplaced, bringing the entire variety of birds affected thus far in 2025 to over 35 million and driving egg costs even larger. 

Chickens at Brown’s Farm, which produces sustainable eggs for NestFresh, in Gonzales, Texas, U.S., on Wednesday, Might 5, 2021.  (Photographer: Mary Kang/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

Nelson mentioned it might take as much as a 12 months for a farm to finish cleansing and lift new chicks to the purpose the place they’re prepared to put eggs. 

“This indemnity does not cover costs during the time the farm goes without income. On top of the economic loss, the death of an entire flock, sometimes millions of birds, from avian influenza is a traumatic experience for farm families,” he added.