Why prices are moving
Why are egg prices falling right now?
41.9¢/doz as of Aug 19, 2026, USDA 5-day weighted average. The national benchmark has fallen 3 straight weeks.
Data through Aug 19, 2026 · source last checked Aug 20, 2026 · page revised Aug 20, 2026
Cite
- National loose
About this data
- Source
- USDA AMS Egg Market News, Daily National Shell Egg Index
- Series
- Large white shell eggs, graded loose
- Basis
- Loose, FOB plant
- Geography
- National
- Unit
- ¢/doz
- Calculation
- 5-day weighted average
- Last observation
- Aug 19, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily (business days)
The national large white benchmark has fallen 3 consecutive weeks, down 71.4¢/doz (-63.0%) since Jul 29, 2026. HPAI detections hit 2 commercial layer flocks totaling 1.2 million birds in the past 8 weeks (USDA APHIS). The US table-egg laying flock stood at 312.0 million birds as of Jul 1, 2026 (USDA NASS). The market is in the summer lull, typically the softest stretch of the egg demand calendar.
The national large white benchmark fell to 41.9¢/doz, down 49.7% on the week. Over 3 consecutive weeks since Jul 29, the benchmark has fallen 71.4¢/doz. HPAI detections have hit 2 commercial layer flocks totaling 1.2 million birds in the past 8 weeks, but the summer demand lull has been the primary driver.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 41.9¢/doz | 83.3¢/doz | -49.7% |
| Month over month | 41.9¢/doz | 79.6¢/doz | -47.3% |
| Year over year | 41.9¢/doz | 219¢/doz | -80.9% |
What makes egg prices fall
Egg prices fall the same way they rise, only in reverse, and often just as fast: eggs are perishable, supply arrives daily whether or not demand shows up, and no producer can store their way around a soft market for long. When supply runs ahead of demand, the price does most of the adjusting downward.
Flock recovery is the big one. After an HPAI shock, replacement hens reach full lay in roughly five to six months, and as repopulated barns come online, daily egg output climbs back toward its base. A quiet stretch on the HPAI tracker plus a growing flock on the production page is the classic setup behind a falling benchmark.
A spike sows its own decline. High prices ration demand: bakers reformulate, food-service portions shrink, households trade down, and by the time supply recovers, the market is selling into demand the spike itself thinned out. That is why the back side of an egg-price spike is often steep.
Inventory builds signal the turn. When shell egg inventories build faster than normal for the time of year, wholesale buyers stop chasing, the urgency premium comes out of the market, and the benchmark eases before the retail shelf reflects any of it.
The demand calendar has a soft side. Late winter after the holiday pull, and the summer lull especially, are the year's weakest demand stretches; a price easing into January or June is partly seasonal demand returning to its floor rather than a new development.
Cheaper feed lowers the floor. Corn and soybean meal falling reduces the cash cost of every dozen, and in a well-supplied market, competition passes the saving through to the wholesale price.
Retail falls slower than wholesale. Grocers smooth the ride down just as they smooth the ride up, so the retail average can still be elevated while the benchmark this page tracks has already broken. The gap between the two is normal lag, not a contradiction. The rising twin of this page covers the same factors running the other way.