Eggflation: Pricier eggs are lucrative for Cal-Maine

Egg prices are high, but egg producers’ profits may be higher.

Cal-Maine, the largest egg producer in the US, is expected to make $284 million in profit in its upcoming quarter, a 93.5% increase year over year. This comes as consumer egg prices have nearly doubled in the past year. (Cal-Maine reports results on April 1 for the months of December, January, and February.)

It was the same story the last time egg prices shot up. Between February 2022 and February 2023, Cal-Maine’s profits increased by 718.2%. During the same period, the price of a carton of eggs increased 105.3% percent. 

It’s not unlike the “greedflation” or “shrinkflation” we heard complaints of a year ago, where food manufacturers maintain prices while shrinking volume or hike prices opportunistically to increase revenue. Bird flu has led to fewer egg-laying hens and, according to Cal-Maine, demand hasn’t eased up.

As of November 2024, Cal-Maine said it had 38.4 million egg-laying hens die of bird flu that year. In October, when Cal-Maine was supposed to have a flock of 322 million to 325 million hens, it only had 312 million. “Any time that you have a decrease in bird numbers during peak demand, certainly prices have to react,” Cal-Maine CEO Sherman Miller told analysts on a November 20 call.

Farm Action, a farmer advocacy organization, has urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Cal-Maine and other major egg producers for allegedly raising the price of eggs by far more than their bird flu costs would warrant.

“While avian flu has been cited as the primary driver of skyrocketing egg prices, its actual impact on production has been minimal,” the group said in a letter dated February 12. “Instead, dominant egg producers — particularly Cal-Maine Foods — have leveraged the crisis to raise prices, amass record profits, and consolidate market power.”

Cal-Maine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.