In accordance with 2022 information, every of us consumes near 280 eggs a 12 months.
Egg Costs
We are able to blame demand and provide when these 280 eggs value us extra.
Demand
Taylor Swift may have been one purpose that our egg demand went up. At a watch popping $2,077,618,725 in ticket gross sales, the Eras Tour was a document setter. Solely the start, her $2 billion+ complete rippled to merchandise, inns, and outfits. And, if we assume Miami’s statistics have been typical, then additionally egg demand skyrocketed. Toast tells us that omelet gross sales at Miami’s eating places soared by 27.2%.
To all of this we will add vacation egg demand. I checked some recipes and located {that a} basic recipe for eggnog makes use of 8 separated eggs whereas Christmas brunches want many extra.
As well as, since 2000, we have now been having fun with extra eggs:
So sure, demand is up but additionally, provide is down.
Provide
Once more, the chook flu scourge is wiping out flocks of egg-laying hens as a result of any signal of flu in a flock, and all should be euthanized. Between February 2022 and January 2023, the egg laying hen inhabitants was down by an unimaginable 45 million. On the time, the consequence was a 15% drop in egg manufacturing. By July 2023, although, numbers had returned to pre-spike ranges. Now although, they’re once more sinking. In 2024, the flu killed 33 million business egg layers. And, reflecting an accelerated tempo, a 15 million decline occurred since October 15.
The extra direct impression is shortages. Responding to chook flu in his state, final Wednesday, California’s Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency with some shops limiting purchases to a dozen an individual.
I hope the next map makes the large numbers we’re citing extra significant. My arrows level to the largest egg producing states. Including a whopping 6 zeros to every quantity, we have now Iowa at 13,121, Ohio at 11,779, and Indiana, 10,641:
The outcomes:
Egg costs are skyrocketing. Beneath you’ll be able to see the 2020 $2.00 a dozen common when the pandemic hit and the present climb. The common value throughout November was $3.65 a dozen, up by $1.51 ($2.14 a dozen) from final 12 months:
Our Backside Line: Inelasticity
Having blamed demand and provide, we will add inelasticity. As economists, we all know that inelasticity refers to our minimal response to a value change.
Analytically, we’re evaluating the proportional change in amount (numerator) to the proportional change in value (denominator). If the amount’s p.c change is larger, then the merchandise is elastic. In contrast, we have now inelasticity when our denominator is bigger as a result of the p.c change in value was greater.
And that’s the drawback. On the demand facet, we are likely to eat the identical variety of eggs, regardless of the value. In the meantime, additionally demonstrating some inelasticity, within the brief run it’s robust to extend your egg layers.
Beneath, I’ve decreased provide and elevated demand. The brand new purple traces meet at a better egg equilibrium value:
Perhaps one graph tells the entire story.
My sources and extra: As an egg costs refresher, we began by returning to a previous egg publish after which went to Self-importance Honest for Taylor Swift ticket totals and Toast for omelet gross sales. From there, the best sources for egg and poultry perception have been Purdue College’s blogs, CNBC, and the St Louis Fed. Then, lastly, we would have liked the NY Instances for the newest particulars.
