'About to get worse': Why egg prices are set to skyrocket
During his 2024 campaign, President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly made the promise that "prices will come down," BBC reports, but according to two experts, that won't be happening any time soon — at least when it comes to the price of eggs.
While eggs are already "40% more expensive now than they were a year ago," KTLA notes, according to the Department of Labor, the raging avian flu epidemic means "it's about to get even worse."
The epidemic — which "has already led to the death of more than 100 million egg-laying hens" — according to the report, is expected to spike egg prices "as much as 20% more in 2025."
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Per KTLA, "Anytime the virus is detected, every bird on the farm has to be killed to limit the spread of the disease," and supply chain expert and Syracuse University School of Management Patrick Penfield told the news outlet, "Once that happens, it can take about five months for a chicken farmer to recover."
Penfield noted that a hen can "lay about one egg per day" at five months old.
Furthermore, KTLA reports that Iowa State University Professor Chad Hart said, "Because the flu is spread through the droppings of wild birds as they migrate past farms, allowing chickens to roam freely actually puts them at greater risk of catching the virus.'
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KTLA's full report is available at this link.