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9Watchdog report finds today’s high prices are built on a foundation of corporate price-gouging
Average U.S. egg prices have hit a record high of $5.90 per dozen, according to the latest monthly consumer price index, released today. This eclipses the previous record high of $4.95/dozen in January. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts egg prices could jump another 41% this year.
Just last week, the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch released a new report — “The Economic Cost of Food Monopolies: The Rotten Egg Oligarchy” — detailing how the U.S.’s largest egg producer has reaped tremendous profits during the yearslong bird flu outbreak at consumer expense. The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into price-fixing by the nation’s largest egg corporations just last week.
Food & Water Watch Research Director Amanda Starbuck issued the following statement:
“Record-high egg prices have everything to do with corporate greed. While skyrocketing prices transform eggs into a luxury item, the food monopolies are seeing green. President Trump needs to get serious about lowering American food prices — starting with cracking down on the food monopolies exploiting the worsening bird flu crisis for profit.”
The Food & Water Watch report finds that Cal-Maine, the nation’s largest egg corporation, raised prices during the early bird flu outbreak to rake in $1 billion in windfall profits in its FY 2023, while not experiencing a single flock outbreak of its own that fiscal year. These trends were echoed nationwide, as national and regional prices spiked despite a relatively stable egg supply.
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