January 20, 2023
Eggs prices are soring. – but so are profits for the egg companies.
I told you in this video last week, egg prices were 60% higher in December 2022 than they were in December of 2021. The US Agriculture Department says the biggest reason is a massive outbreak of avian flu that started back in February and wiped out more than 43 million egg-laying hens.
And without those hens you don’t get the eggs. And without the eggs the supply gets tighter but – according to the egg companies — the demand remained really strong. So basic economics, the price for the eggs that do make it to market go up because of that demand.
As a result, that meant bigger profits for Cal-Maine foods, the largest producer and distributor of eggs in the US. Their brands include Egg-Land’s Best, Land o’ Lakes and Farmhouse eggs. I dug up the company’s latest quarterly report and found profits as of November increased 65% from the previous year. Between August and November of 2022 that translated to a company record $198 million profit. That’s on top of the $125 million profit in the previous quarter (May through August of 2022).
Cal-Maine’s recent quarterly report here.
All of Cal-Main foods egg brands here.
