Egg prices are sizzling again
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Eggflation is back. Over the longer term, however, eggs are still cheap compared to their natural companion, bacon.
Why it matters: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
By the numbers: Egg prices rose to $3.65 per dozen in November, up 8% from October and up 71% year-on-year — even if they're still 24% below the record high of $4.82 set in January 2023.
- Both the big 2022 price increase and the current uptick are largely a function of bird flu, which has severely reduced the number of laying hens in the country.
- After becoming the poster child for inflation in 2022, eggs are now rivaling gas prices as the first place people look for a gauge of whether prices are rising, steady or falling.
Between the lines: How you feel about bacon and egg prices depends in large part on what your baseline is. Egg prices were pretty low from 2016 until late 2021, and compared with those levels they've risen dramatically.
- For people who first became familiar with egg and bacon prices in the 1970s or 1980s, however, it's bacon, rather than eggs, that looks notably expensive.
- That might partially explain Donald Trump's obsession with bacon prices.
Fun fact: Between January 1980 and December 1988, America experienced an extended period of egg deflation, with egg prices falling by 5% even as the broader Consumer Price Index rose by 55%.
The bottom line: Egg prices tend to fall after they rise. Bacon prices, by contrast, are on a much steadier upward trend.
