Egg Prices: Trump Touts Prices Are ‘Way Down’—As Consumers Start Seeing A Drop
Timeline
The USDA released its weekly Egg Markets Overview report, which found wholesale egg prices continued to drop—though at a slower pace than the week before—falling to $3.27 per dozen, and it said consumers are “slowly beginning” to see prices drop and availability increase in stores.
Trump bragged in a post on Truth Social about lower egg prices, saying they “are WAY DOWN from the Biden inspired prices if just a few weeks ago,” and adding: “‘Groceries’ and Gasoline are down, also.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appeared on NewsNation and said she’s optimistic because egg prices have been going down, but expressed some hesitation as Easter—which she called “the Egg Super Bowl”—nears, saying: “they may go back up a little bit, but hopefully now we’re in a good spot.”
Jeremy Horpedahl, an associate professor of economics at the University of Central Arkansas, told The New York Times that even though wholesale prices are dropping, customers may not feel the impacts until later this month or next month because stores will continue to sell the eggs they have until their shelf-life is complete.
The Department of Agriculture said in its Egg Markets Overview that “wholesale prices for graded loose eggs continued on a sharp downward trajectory as no significant outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza” were reported yet in March and the “supply situation is rapidly improving.”
The Egg Markets Overview said the price for wholesale large white eggs nationally fell “$2.70 to $4.15 per dozen with a sharply lower undertone”—at the peak of high prices in February, the wholesale cost for a dozen had surpassed $8.
Despite consumer prices increasing just 2.8% compared to last year and the index for food increasing just 0.2% in February, the Consumer Price Index revealed egg prices continue to rise, increasing 10.4% from January to February (with seasonal adjustments) and 58.8% year-over-year.
Reports circulated that the Justice Department began investigating the rise in egg prices and examining whether egg producers have conspired to hold back their supplies and increase prices, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A key Trump ally Elon Musk alleged former President Joe Biden was in large part responsible for higher egg prices after ordering “an insane slaughter of 150 million egg-laying chickens”—though culling birds in infected stocks is the policy of the Department of Agriculture and is also being followed under Trump. (Read more here.)
Rollins penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which she announced the $1 billion investment, $500 million of which will go to helping poultry producers “implement gold-standard biosecurity measures,” with $400 million being used as additional financial relief to farmers whose flocks have been impacted and $100 million being used to research the use of vaccines and therapeutics for laying chickens.
Rollins also said the Department of Agriculture will work to remove “unnecessary regulatory burdens on egg producers where possible” and explore “temporary import options” to address the high prices in the short term—adding that while the strategy “won’t erase the problem overnight,” the USDA is “confident that it will restore stability to the egg market over the next three to six months.”
The Department of Agriculture released an updated food price outlook report for the year predicting that egg prices would increase 41.1% in 2025 as they continue to experience “volatile month-to-month changes” because of the ongoing bird flu outbreak—up from the 20.3% increase the USDA predicted in January.
Denny’s confirmed to Bloomberg some of its restaurants would temporarily add a surcharge to dishes with eggs because of the supply crunch and increased prices of eggs across the country, though it declined to comment on which locations will have the fee and said fees will vary by region and location; Denny’s did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
An order from the Nevada Department of Agriculture took effect suspending the state’s cage-free egg law that passed in 2021, meaning eggs “sourced from any egg producer meeting food-safety guidelines, regardless of whether the eggs originated from hens in a cage-free housing system” can be sold in the state.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo approved a bill allowing the state to temporarily suspend cage-free egg laws in an effort to address high egg prices and the strain on supply.
Egg prices increased 15.2% from December to January, according to the Consumer Price Index, and the average cost of one dozen Grade A large eggs in December across the U.S. was $4.95—up slightly from $4.15 in December.
Trader Joe’s confirmed to the Associated Press it was limiting egg purchases nationwide to one dozen per customer, per day, in an effort “to ensure that as many of our customers who need eggs are able to purchase them.”
On Monday, breakfast chain Waffle House implemented a $0.50 surcharge per egg, citing the “dramatic increase in egg prices” due to bird flu and saying “consumers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions.”
In a statement to Forbes, Waffle House said it will continuously monitor egg prices and “will adjust or remove the surcharge as market conditions allow,” but that it “cannot predict how long this shortage will last.”
Retail egg prices will “continue to experience volatile month-to-month changes” throughout the year and are expected to increase a total of 20.3%, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its 2025 food price outlook.
The CPI released for December showed egg prices increased more than 8% from November to December 2024—with the average cost of one dozen Grade A large eggs at $4.15—and the price was 36.8% higher than the previous December.
Big Number
$5.90. That was the average price for a dozen large eggs across the U.S. in February, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A dozen eggs cost just $2.04 in August 2023, $4.82 in January 2023 and $1.33 in August 2020.
What To Watch For
How much egg prices rise from February to March. The next Consumer Price Index will be released on April 10 and will detail how average egg prices nationwide have changed over the last month.
Are There Limits On How Many Eggs You Can Buy?
In addition to Trader Joe’s, grocery chains including Walmart and Sam’s Club have implemented nationwide restrictions on egg purchases, NBC News reported. Walmart told NBC it was restricting purchases of 60-count cartons to two per purchase, but is not restricting smaller quantities of eggs, and Sam’s Club is allowing customers to buy two cartons of each brand of eggs. Some Kroger, Costco, Whole Foods and Aldi stores are limiting egg purchases dependent on locations, as well.
How Have High Egg And Food Prices Been Politicized?
Ahead of November’s presidential election in which Trump defeated then-Vice President Kamala Harris, Republicans made inflation and how costs had risen under then-President Joe Biden a focal point. Voters largely trusted Trump over Harris to handle the economy, and inflation was a primary issue for many voters: The Associated Press reported about 9 in 10 voters “were very or somewhat concerned about the cost of groceries” and many were still hurting from when inflation hit a four-decade high in mid-2022. When he was campaigning, Trump promised he would end the “inflation nightmare” and bring prices down “very quickly,” though economists warned Trump’s plans of imposing tariffs and deporting workers would not help lower costs for Americans. When asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Jan. 26 whether grocery prices would come down, Vice President JD Vance said “prices are going to come down, but it's going to take a little bit of time.” Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have already jumped on Trump and Vance for not yet lowering prices, writing in a letter to the president on Jan. 26 that he “repeatedly promised” to “lower food prices ‘immediately’ if elected president,” but instead he has “focused on mass deportations and pardoning January 6 attackers,” NBC News reported. Trump’s team pushed back on the criticism and said his actions to “unleash American energy” will drive costs for American families down nationwide.
What Is Bird Flu?
Bird flu refers to the disease caused when an animal or person is infected with avian flu Type A viruses, though it is typically spread between birds and not people. HPAI viruses related to the ongoing outbreaks were first detected in wild aquatic birds, commercial poultry and backyard flocks of poultry in the U.S. beginning in January 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The early 2022 detections were the first time the viruses were found in the U.S. since 2016. Since 2022, every state has been affected by the illness and there have been more than 1,464 poultry outbreaks reported to the CDC. The virus spreads through the mucous, saliva or poop of infected animals.
Where Is Bird Flu?
Bird flu is impacting dairy and poultry throughout the U.S., though some areas have more cases. As of March 7, there were 40 confirmed bird flu outbreaks in layer flocks across nine states—Arizona, California, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington—that have resulted in 30.3 million birds being killed this year. That loss accounted for 12.3% of the conventional caged layer flock and 7.8% of the non-organic cage-free flock, according to the USDA’s Egg Market Overview.
What Is The H5n9 Strain Of Bird Flu?
Officials reported the new strain of bird flu was found in a commercial duck meat farm in Merced County, California, in late November according to a report filed with the World Organization for Animal Health this week. More than 118,000 birds were killed and disposed of, according to the report. It’s the first time the strain was detected in the U.S. The Washington Post reported the strain isn’t a grave threat to humans now, but scientists worry the spread of multiple bird flu strains along with other illnesses could produce a version that spreads more easily person-to-person.
Can People Get Bird Flu?
Yes, though it’s not too common. People who get bird flu usually get it through “direct unprotected contact … with infected birds or other infected animals,” the CDC said. Most human cases in the U.S. have been mild and there has been no person-to-person spread traced here, but the U.S. did record its first severe human case of bird flu in Louisiana in December, and the patient later died. The CDC has reported 70 cases in the U.S. since 2024.
Contra
Though bird flu taking out thousands of egg-laying hens is greatly impacting the price of eggs, it’s not seeming to make a big difference on the price of chicken. The cost of chicken was up just 2.1% year-over-year in February, and down 0.1% from January to February.
Tangent
A bird flu variant has been spreading through cattle and livestock in the U.S., as well, since April, when the Food and Drug Administration said some samples of pasteurized milk had remnants of H5N1. The outbreak among cattle led to officials in California declaring a state of emergency and suspending the sale of raw milk from a leading raw farm because bird flu was detected in its samples.
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