Bird flu outbreak contributes to higher egg prices for consumers, businesses in the Metro - KMOV4

jawawuts.blogspot.com

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - Poached, over easy and sunny side up. No matter how you take your eggs may now be more expensive than before.

“Most of our dishes incorporate egg somehow,” said Faysal Halloul. “Each egg will cost me around 50 cents, 45 cents. [A] few weeks back, the cost, maybe four times less.”

Halloul is the co-owner of Egg, located in South City and Midtown. He says rising egg prices over the last nine weeks have left businesses like his scrambling to keep up.

“We have to manage with the margin, with the profit margin, so basically we’re not making as much as we used to make before with the regular dish,” said Halloul. “Usually when you see a slight increase but then prices are corrected back again to normal, but now, even since that time all the way to now, we’ve been seeing increases in prices every week.”

According to the most recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the average price for eggs in the United States rose from around $1.72 dollars per dozen in November 2021 to $3.59 this past November. The biggest reason is the ongoing avian flu outbreak.

“59 million birds have it right now. Half a million of them are here in Missouri. What it does is it decimate the population of egg-laying hens,” said Jerome Katz, Professor with the Chaifetz School of Business and Robert H. Brockhaus Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University.

As of this week, the USDA reports nearly 730 flocks across 47 states with confirmed detections of bird flu. However, that is one of a number of reasons egg prices are rising. Katz said it is also in part because more middle- and lower-income families have moved away from other forms of meat to eggs in response to inflation.

“It takes a few weeks to grow a whole new generation of chickens to start getting eggs,” said Katz. “The farms say that they will be able to meet demand and the prices should begin to lower as we get into 2023, but it’s probably going to be a couple of months.”

Schnucks told News 4 that while the current egg supply and pricing is concerning for grocery retailers and customers, they source their eggs from a local Missouri farm and are able to maintain a steady supply:

“That said, eggs remain a commodity, subject to price fluctuations depending on factors outside of grocers’ control”

“I’m not willing to compromise on quality, I’m not willing to compromise on recipes,” said Jackie Huebbe.

Huebbe is the owner of SugarBot Sweet Shop and SugarBot Creamery in St. Charles. She said other commodities are also increasing in price, but eggs seem to be the one that has increased the most since the start of the pandemic. Right now, she is spending roughly 39 cents per egg.

She is hopeful prices for eggs will begin to go down, but for now, is willing to continue to make adjustments in other ways to keep meeting customer demand.

“So, unfortunately, it just means changing prices of things,” said Huebbe. “Making sure that we’re really employing people that are qualified so fewer mistakes are being made, making sure that we have less waste.”

Halloul said while they may make slight changes to prices on the menu, the goal is to keep customers from shelling out more cash.

“We make sure we maintain the quality of food up high,” he said. “Sometimes if you break even, you’re good, but I know it’s temporary.”

Copyright 2023 KMOV. All rights reserved.

Adblock test (Why?)

"bird" - Google News
January 11, 2023 at 07:02AM
https://ift.tt/XT8KwSy

Bird flu outbreak contributes to higher egg prices for consumers, businesses in the Metro - KMOV4
"bird" - Google News
https://ift.tt/4O0sw3o
https://ift.tt/ilRaf6Y

Bagikan Berita Ini