by Eggs. They was one of many most cost-effective sources of protein on the market (a few further massive eggs has 14 grams of protein, about the identical as three ounces of hamburger).
But instances they’re a-changin’. The common worth for giant Grade A eggs was $4.25 a dozen in December. That’s a 138% improve from $1.79 a yr earlier, in line with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics knowledge. By the best way, a dozen eggs value $1.33 in August 2020.
The narrative being peddled by the trade is that there’s a historic outbreak of avian influenza that has killed tens of hundreds of thousands of egg-laying hens. Maybe. Chicken has gone up, too. A pound of hen cost $2.96 in March 2020 and final month hit $4.34.
But right here’s one bizarre factor: Have you seen a shortage of eggs or hen on the grocery retailer? I certain haven’t: My native Wegmans is stacked to the rafters with eggs and hen. Eggs are dear — they prime out at $7.78 — however they’re there.
So possibly one thing else is happening. Maybe, simply possibly, there’s one thing else accountable for these hovering costs.
That’s what Farm Action, a farmer advocacy group, thinks. The group says the “actual perpetrator” behind sky-high costs is a “collusive scheme” amongst prime U.S. egg producers to repair costs to gouge customers.
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Farm Action mentioned the alleged collusion has helped egg producers to “extract egregious income reaching as excessive as 40%.”
And the letter mentioned avian flu is to not blame.
“Examining publicly-available monetary knowledge from the egg trade, the letter determines that the provision disruption attributable to the avian flu outbreak had an ‘apparently delicate influence on the trade,’” the group mentioned in a press launch.
And the group mentioned egg producers are making a living hand over fist.
“For the 26-week interval ending on November 26, 2022, Cal-Maine reported a ten-fold year-over-year improve in gross income — from $50.392 million to $535.339 million — and a five-fold improve in its gross margins,” the letter mentioned.
And the group says “the true perpetrator behind this 138 % hike within the worth of a carton of eggs seems to be a collusive scheme amongst trade leaders to show inflationary situations and an avian flu outbreak into a chance to extract egregious income reaching as excessive as 40 %.”
“In the tip, what Cal-Maine Foods and the opposite massive egg producers did final yr — and appear to be intent on doing once more this yr — is extort billions of {dollars} from the pockets of peculiar Americans by what quantities to a tax on a staple all of us want: eggs,” the letter mentioned. “They did so with none reputable enterprise justification. They did so as a result of there isn’t a ‘affordable substitute’ for a carton of eggs. They did so as a result of they’d energy and weren’t afraid to make use of it.”
The views expressed on this piece are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially characterize these of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has lined politics for 35 years, together with 12 years as White House correspondent for a nationwide newspaper. He was additionally the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for 4 years. Send tricks to [email protected] and comply with him on Twitter @josephcurl.
