Over the course of the last month, the wholesale price or a dozen "Midwest large" eggs tripled to an all-time high of $3.09. The sudden jump came as soon as panicked shoppers began to stockpile staples like milk, frozen vegetables, and eggs, causing a variety of grocery chains to limit the number of these goods a customer can actually buy.
"Retailers are increasing the price on the shelf. They’re limiting the number of eggs the consumer can buy in one store visit," said Brian Moscogiuri, director of Urner Barry, which tracks daily food prices.
According to Moscogiuri, egg orders have come in anywhere from two to six times higher than usual. Nielsen, the market-research firm, also recorded a jump in US egg sales during the last few days of March—by a whopping 48%.
Fortunately, an egg shortage has been prevented due to producers having padded their inventories for Easter when demand is generally elevated.
"Had this happened a week from now ... they would have potentially not had that inventory to draw from and maybe had fewer birds to draw from as well," said Moscogiuri.