Customers buy eggs at an HEB grocery store on May 11, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Egg prices are finally cooling with a welcome change for consumers.
But now a new challenge is sending producers into a tizzy: they have too many eggs at a time when their input costs are rising.
As the market transitions from a shortage caused by last year’s bird flu to a growing glut, producers say low prices at grocery stores are masking pressure from rising costs.
“In the past, everyone would talk about how expensive eggs are because unfortunately many birds were lost,” said Thomas Flocco, CEO of egg producer Pete & Gerry’s.
“Now we have an oversupply situation, that’s why you’re seeing a dozen eggs for less than a dollar,” Flocco said.
Egg prices fell 44.7% year-over-year through March 2026, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marking a sharp reversal from last year’s surge during the bird flu outbreak. The decline follows a period of livestock rebuilding, which industry officials say has left producers wary of new shortages.
Falling prices put new pressure on margins when producers can’t afford them. The cost of inputs such as feed, which will increase in 2022 and 2023, have been raised for years, and now fuel prices have also increased because of the Iran war.
“All of this cost pressure is coming into our cost structure,” Flocco said. “About half the cost of a dozen premium eggs is food. Diesel is an immediate impact. We have to drive to get those eggs.”
American Egg Board president and CEO Emily Metz echoed those concerns, saying that food, fuel and labor costs “did not disappear” and continue to weigh on producers even if consumer demand recovers and retail prices decrease.
The protein bump
The good news for producers is that demand is strong, according to Flocco, as consumers increasingly prioritize protein in their diets.
More than four in 10 Americans say they are focusing more on protein than they did five years ago, according to a new study by Pete & Gerry. It also found two-thirds of Americans say they eat eggs weekly specifically for their protein, and many consider whole foods like eggs to be more nutritious than processed alternatives.
Consumers looking for eggs at the grocery store recently found them in abundance and at good prices. But for manufacturers, even that strong demand wasn’t enough to counter the glut.
“What we’re seeing in the market today is more about inventory and timing changes than any significant change in consumption,” said Sherman Miller, CEO of Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg distributor in the US, in April.
Metz also said that the current price weakness is not related to demand.
“[Prices] show supply growing faster than demand can absorb it, driven by subsequent herd acquisitions [avian influenza]the growth of small farms and improved productivity,” said Metz.
That hasn’t stopped President Donald Trump from taking credit for the drop in egg prices as he tries to promote affordability ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.
“We’ve brought the tariffs down, down,” Trump said Thursday. “Less than it was four years ago.”
