US egg prices fall sharply as flock rebuilds after HPAI losses
USDA cuts 2026 outlook on hatching flock slowdown
17 June 2026
1 minute read
By: The average US retail price for a dozen eggs fell to $2.25 in April 2026, down 10 cents from March and 62% below year-ago levels, according to the USDA's May 2026 Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook.
Table egg production in March 2026 totalled 659.4 million dozen, up 5.6% year over year, driven primarily by a 6.1% higher average layer inventory. The lay rate was 82.3 eggs per 100 layers per day, down 0.5% from March 2025. First-quarter production totalled 1,912 million dozen, up 4.2% year over year.
The table-egg layer flock has been rebuilding after losing 151.2 million birds to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) between February 2022 and April 2026, with inventories running above year-ago levels for the first four months of 2026. The egg-type hatching-egg layer flock, which supplies hens for the table-egg layer flock, has also been expanding since July 2025.
However, USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service reported the inventory of egg-type hatching layers at 4.079 million on April 1, down 765,000 month over month, signalling a slowdown in flock expansion.
As a result, the USDA revised its quarterly production projections downward. The new estimates are 1,940 million dozen in the second quarter, 1,975 million dozen in the third quarter and 2,000 million dozen in the fourth quarter, for a 2026 total of 7,827 million dozen, up 4.4% from 2025. That is below last month's projected growth rate of 5.4%. For 2027, production is projected at 8,020 million dozen, up 2.5% from the 2026 projection.
On the price side, New York wholesale prices for a dozen large eggs averaged 68.1 cents in April, down 87 cents from March and 306 cents below April 2025. The USDA lowered its second-quarter average price projection to 65 cents per dozen and its third-quarter projection to 80 cents, with the fourth-quarter projection unchanged at 120 cents. The revised 2026 annual average is 97.6 cents per dozen. The 2027 wholesale price is projected at 110 cents per dozen, up year over year.
