Cage-Free Large White Loose Reaches 38.1 Cents on 39.5% Weekly Gain

National cage-free large white loose eggs reached 38.1 cents a dozen this week, up 39.5% from 27.3 cents a week ago, per USDA. The conventional large white benchmark held steady at 35.0 cents, per USDA's Sep 18 Egg Markets Overview. The cage-free premium stands at 3.1 cents per dozen (9%) over conventional, per USDA.

• Large brown conventional loose, national: 110.0 cents, up 15.8% week over week from 95.0 cents, per USDA.
• Extra large white conventional loose, national: 37.9 cents, down 9.7% week over week from 41.9 cents.
• New York large white, delivered store door: 82.0 cents, down 1.2% week over week from 83.0 cents. New York extra large white dropped to 84.0 cents on the same basis, down 1.2% from 85.0 cents, per USDA.
• Midwest conventional shell egg inventory: 586 thousand cases, 15% above the five-year median and up 5% on the week, per USDA.
• Northwest conventional shell egg inventory: 60.4 thousand cases, up 13.3% on the week but still 9% below the five-year median, the furthest below normal of any tracked region, per USDA.
• Southwest conventional shell egg inventory: 120 thousand cases, down 17.2% on the week and 1% below the five-year median, the largest weekly draw of any tracked region, per USDA.

APHIS has confirmed no HPAI detections in commercial egg-layer flocks in the past 60 days. U.S. total shell egg inventory stood at 1,482 thousand cases as of Sep 21, 0.4% above the trailing four-week average, per USDA. Retail feature activity rose on the week, with cage-free types leading promotions and the average conventional caged ad price up one cent to $1.42 per dozen, per USDA's Sep 18 Egg Markets Overview.

Data note: 54 series covering California cage-free brown and diet-specialty large white cage-free segments have not updated in over two weeks. Figures from those specific series are not reported this issue.