One of the nation's largest egg producers has lost 95% of its chickens to bird flu. It could spell price hikes
Arizona's largest egg producer has lost 95 percent of its chickens due to the bird flu, signaling a potential price increase for eggs.
On Monday, the Arizona Department of Agriculture announced a third commercial farm had tested positive for bird flu in Maricopa County.
At the same time, Hickman's Egg Ranch, which is Arizona's largest egg producer and one of the nation's top 20 producers, has had to destroy the chickens at three of its four farms due to the bird flu.
"All of our layer flocks have been on the west side of town, have been determined to be positive. We're in the act of depopulating those farms and removing the chickens and trying to start the cleanup process," Glenn Hickman, the president and CEO of Hickman's Egg Ranch, told Fox 10 Phoenix.
Hickman expressed his frustration at the three-year-long flu forcing him to destroy egg-laying chickens.
"You know, since this outbreak started in February of 2022, we've lost 170 million birds and that's just got to stop," he said.
According to Hickman, it will take 20 months to fully repopulate his farms. The company is trying to get by in the meantime with help from other farms.
"Thankfully, we have some other farmers that we are cooperative with, and some of those have had some extra eggs. So we've been able to kind of reshift and reprioritize where those eggs are going," he said.
While egg prices have been lowering around the country since they spiked earlier this year, a supply chain expert told Fox 10 Phoenix that there is a chance that egg prices in Arizona will increase.
"Hickman's supplies about 80 percent of Arizona's egg production. You are reducing about 80 percent of Arizona's supply chain from about 2.2 billion to 450 million eggs," Hitendra Chaturvedi, an Arizona State University Professor of Practice for the department of supply chain management told the broadcaster.
Hickman disagreed, and said the impact of losing his chickens on the market will be "pretty nominal."
Arizona's egg struggles are playing out as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is singing President Donald Trump's praises for a reduction in egg prices. She blamed the spike in egg prices on former President Joe Biden's administration.
"I remember my very first briefing, I was asked about the cost of eggs, the reporter tried to insinuate this administration was at fault, even though he had only been here for a few days or weeks," Leavitt said. "It was a result of the previous administration's terrible polices and in record time, this president has fixed that problem he inherited from Joe Biden, and prices have dropped 61 percent since this president took office."
According to Trading Economics data, white, large shell eggs are around $2.52 per dozen nationally. On January 21, the same carton would have cost approximately $6.49, nationally.
According to analysts at Clarify Capital, the price drop is partially a result of Americans buying fewer eggs due to their spike in prices — thus creating more supply — and a lull in new bird flu cases.
Reuters also reported in April that the U.S. has increased its egg imports from Turkey, Brazil, and South Korea to help bolster supply and bring down prices.
Since the outbreak began in 2022, the bird flu has affects more than 166 million birds, including 127 million egg laying birds.
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