Officials warn that already soaring egg prices will increase this year — here's why Americans are facing an egg crisis

The soaring egg prices hitting Americans in their wallets will not dissipate any time soon, according to officials.

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt held her first press briefing. Leavitt was asked how the Trump administration is dealing with the high price of eggs.

'Over 100 million birds throughout the poultry industry have been affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza since 2022.'

Leavitt said that the Trump administration has been blamed for the skyrocketing egg prices. However, Leavitt pointed out the eye-raising price increases in eggs under the Biden administration.

"I would like to point out to each and every one of you that in 2024, when Joe Biden was in the Oval Office or upstairs in the residence sleeping — I’m not so sure — egg prices increased 65% in this country," Leavitt said.

Leavitt added, "As far as the egg shortage, what's also contributing to that is that the Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country; therefore, a lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage."

Officials have said the current outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has caused egg shortages and soaring prices.

The Associated Press noted, "Any time the virus is found on a poultry farm, the entire flock is slaughtered to help limit the virus’ spread. And with massive egg farms routinely housing more than 1 million chickens, just a few infections can cause a supply crunch."

There are additional issues from the mass chicken killings, because it reportedly "takes months to dispose of all the carcasses, disinfect barns, and bring in new birds."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture stated, "Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial table egg layer flocks that resulted in the depopulation of 13.2 million birds in December 2024 continue into the opening weeks of 2025."

"As of this week, 8 APHIS-confirmed outbreaks in 5 states (CA, NC, OH, MO, and IN) have resulted in the loss of 8.3 million birds — 6.8 million (82%) in conventional caged systems and 1.3 million (18%) in cage-free systems. These losses represent 3.7% of the conventional caged layer flock and 1.5% of the non-organic cage-free flock on January 1, 2025," the U.S. Department of Agriculture stated on Jan. 24.

The HPAI was either directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of more than 20 million egg-laying hens in the last quarter of 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The American Farm Bureau Federation stated in November, "Over 100 million birds throughout the poultry industry have been affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza since 2022, including 3.6 million this October. Egg layers and turkeys have been the most impacted, while broiler flocks benefit from being far away from the Central and Pacific flyways where HPAI is most prevalent in migratory birds."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that cases of avian bird flu have been found in all 50 states and there have been at least 1,471 outbreaks that have affected 147,251,501 birds.

The CDC said humans can get the bird flu through "direct unprotected contact with infected birds or other infected animals," but it is rare. "Most" human cases of H5 bird flu have been "mild" in the United States.

As of Jan. 6, there have been 66 confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu in the United States since 2024.

On Jan. 6, the first American died of H5N1 bird flu in Louisiana.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza was first confirmed in a commercial flock in the United States on Feb. 8, 2022.

Another issue causing high egg prices is a shortage of truck drivers.

"Refrigerated truck transportation is a major pain point in the food supply chain right now. There's a shortage of drivers, long-haul truck rates are up, and eggs are, of course, very transportation-intensive. Even before we were dealing with avian flu, the trucks just weren't there to deliver eggs in a timely fashion," Ricky Volpe, a professor of agribusiness at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, told CBS MoneyWatch.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the average price of a dozen Grade A large eggs was $4.15 during the month of December. Eggs were at an all-time high price of $4.82 in January 2023. Between 2017 and 2021, egg prices had an average price of $1.62.

In California, the average price for a dozen large eggs spiked to $8.97, according to a Jan. 10 report from the USDA.

Sadly for the American consumer, price relief on eggs reportedly won't be arriving any time soon and already high prices will actually increase significantly.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the price of eggs will increase by 20.3% in 2025 and that consumers will likely "continue to experience volatile month-to-month changes." All food prices are expected to rise by 2.2% in 2025.

“Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re in this for a while. Until we have time without a detection, unfortunately, this very, very tight egg supply is going to continue," Emily Metz — president and CEO of the American Egg Board — told CNN.

Brian Moscogiuri — a global trade strategist at Eggs Unlimited — told Business Insider, "We are all in uncharted territory. It seems as bad as it has ever been."

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