California Cage-Free Large White Up 24.1% to 55.8 Cents

The national large white benchmark held steady at 35 cents a dozen per USDA's Sep 11 Egg Markets Overview, on moderate retail interest and light to moderate loose egg demand as schools return after summer. California cage-free large white loose moved against that backdrop, up 24.1% on the week to 55.8 cents (USDA).

• Medium white cage-free loose up 18.7% week over week from 36.2 cents to 43.0 cents a dozen (USDA).
• Cage-free large white premium inverted nationally: cage-free loose at 27.3 cents trades 8.2 cents below the 35.5-cent conventional price, a minus 23% gap (USDA).
• Medium white conventional loose up 13.3%, from 25.3 to 28.6 cents (USDA).
• Midwest medium white paid to producers FOB up 16.0%, from 25.0 to 29.0 cents (USDA).
• Large brown cage-free loose down 11.9%, from 108 to 95.0 cents a dozen (USDA), the largest weekly price decline in this issue's data.
• Northwest conventional inventory at 53.3 thousand cases sits 24% below the five-year median and fell 5% on the week (USDA), the tightest regional position this issue.

APHIS has recorded no HPAI egg-layer detections in the past 60 days. US shell egg inventory stands at 1,461 thousand cases as of Sep 14, 1.2% below the trailing four-week average (USDA). Southeast conventional inventory at 255 thousand cases is 12% below the five-year median. Midwest conventional inventory at 559 thousand cases runs 14% above the five-year median, a contrast to the tight Northwest and Southeast positions. Per USDA, 590 stores featured national large white 12-count at $0.97 the week of Sep 7.

Several California cage-free brown series (extra large, jumbo, medium and nestrun loose delivered) have not updated in over two weeks (USDA) and should be read as stale.