An AP article raised the issue of egg price gouging, Are egg producers inflating prices during the bird flu outbreak to boost profits? The AP article comments that, not surprisingly, egg producers blame the bird flu outbreak for driving prices to record highs. Most experts, whoever they may be, agree that bird flu mostly drives prices. However, some people believe that a few major suppliers are taking advantage of their market dominance to gouge.
An expert critic, Angela Huffman, commented “dominant egg corporations are blaming avian flu for the price hikes that we’re seeing. But while the egg supply has fallen only slightly, these companies profits have soared.” In addition, there is past bad egg producer behavior. In 2023, a jury found that major egg producers used various means to limit the domestic supply of eggs to increase the price during the 2000s.
Also, profits have greatly surpassed egg production costs. For example, Cal-Maine Foods reported a profit of $219 million in the latest quarter, with eggs averaging $2.74 per dozen. That is a more than a 100-fold increase from $1.2 million in the quarter before the outbreak when eggs were $1.37 per dozen.
Finally, some consumer advocates found "no evidence of aggressive price competition among the largest egg producers over the past year," suggesting that as Cal-Maine and other 'bellwether' companies raised prices, it provided an "invitation for rival egg producers to tacitly collude with Cal-Maine, forego price competition themselves, and maintain high prices for the entire industry."
Given the intense hostility of djt and MAGA elites toward regulations, one can reasonably believe that corporate collusion everywhere will be on the rise. As the federal government backs away from consumer, worker and environmental protections, most of the released power will flow to special interests who will get increased profit from de-regulation. Collusion and price gouging will become normalized and accepted as business as usual.
How likely is egg price gouging right now? Very likely. It's just free markets doing what free markets naturally want to do. And it's djt's fault for letting it happen. Of course, that should be no surprise to anyone paying attention and not trapped in MAGA's fantasy and illusion propaganda.
