Clients store for eggs at an H-E-B grocery retailer on Might 11, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Pictures
Egg costs are lastly cooling in a welcome shift for customers.
However now a brand new problem is sending producers scrambling: they’ve too many eggs at a time when their enter prices are rising.
Because the market swings from final yr’s avian flu-driven scarcity to a rising oversupply, producers say decrease grocery retailer costs are masking the squeeze from value inflation.
“A yr in the past, all anyone might speak about was how costly eggs have been as a result of a number of birds have been sadly misplaced,” mentioned Thomas Flocco, CEO of egg producer Pete & Gerry’s.
“We now have an oversupply state of affairs, which is why you are seeing in some circumstances a dozen eggs under a greenback,” Flocco mentioned.
Egg costs fell 44.7% year-over-year in March 2026, in accordance with Bureau of Labor Statistics knowledge, marking a pointy reversal from final yr’s spike through the chicken flu outbreak. The downturn follows a interval of flock rebuilding, which trade officers say left producers cautious of renewed shortages.
The value collapse is creating new stress on margins at a time when producers can least afford it. Prices for inputs like feed, which spiked in 2022 and 2023, have been elevated for years, and now gasoline costs have additionally spiked as a result of battle in Iran.
“All of these value pressures are discovering their approach into our value construction,” Flocco mentioned. “About half of the price of a dozen premium eggs is feed. Diesel is an instantaneous impression. We’ve got to drive to get these eggs.”
American Egg Board President and CEO Emily Metz echoed these issues, nothing that feed, gasoline and labor prices “didn’t disappear” and proceed to weigh on producers at the same time as shopper demand returns and wholesale costs weaken.
The protein bump
The excellent news for producers is that demand is powerful, in accordance with Flocco, as customers more and more prioritize protein of their diets.
Greater than 4 in 10 People say they’re extra targeted on protein than they have been 5 years in the past, in accordance with a brand new survey commissioned by Pete & Gerry’s. It additionally discovered two-thirds of People mentioned they eat eggs weekly particularly for his or her protein, and lots of view entire meals like eggs as extra nutritious than processed alternate options.
Consumers looking for eggs on the grocery retailer recently have discovered them plentiful and at good costs. However for producers, even that robust demand has not been sufficient to negate oversupply.
“What we’re seeing out there right this moment is way more about provide restoration and timing shifts than any basic change in consumption,” mentioned Sherman Miller, CEO of Cal-Maine Meals, the biggest egg distributor within the U.S., in April.
Metz additionally mentioned the present worth weak spot will not be demand associated.
“[Prices] mirror provide rising sooner than demand can take in, pushed by flock restoration following [avian influenza], small farm development and improved productiveness,” mentioned Metz.
That has not stopped President Donald Trump from taking credit score for the drop in egg costs as he tries to advertise affordability forward of the midterm elections this fall.
“We obtained the costs down, approach down,” Trump mentioned Thursday. “Decrease than it was 4 years earlier than.”