• Kelly Tyko

https://www.axios.com/2024/03/12/egg-prices-2024-easter-cpi-inflation

Share on facebook (opens in new window)

Share on twitter (opens in new window)

Share on linkedin (opens in new window)

Share on email (opens in new window)

Average U.S. price for a dozen eggs

Monthly; January 2022 to February 2024

Line chart showing that the average price for a dozen eggs was $1.93 in January 2022, peaked at $4.82 in January 2023 and is $3.00 in February 2024.Jan.2022AprilJulyOct.Jan.2023AprilJulyOct.Jan.2024$0$1$2$3$4$5

🥚

Prices peaked at $4.82 in January 2023

Prices peaked at $4.82 in January 2023

$3.00Data: BLS; Chart: Axios Visuals

Egg prices are soaring again and increased 8.4% in February from January, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released Tuesday.

Why it matters: Elevated prices ahead of Easter are giving consumers flashbacks to the sky-high prices of 2023, which peaked at $4.82 for a dozen in January.

• February 2024 prices dropped 17% from a year earlier, the CPI, a key inflation barometer, found.

Between the lines: Eggs were the top-ranked Google search on cost in 2023 in all 50 states and D.C., Google Trends analysis found.

Bird flu outbreak impact on egg prices

Driving the news: Supply issues related to the ongoing bird flu outbreak and weather-related demand have fueled the inflation of eggs, Brian Moscogiuri, a global trade strategist at Eggs Unlimited, told Axios.

• Moscogiuri said prices are starting to drop but it could take time before consumers see a difference at the store.

By the numbers: A dozen eggs cost an average price of $3 in February, federal data shows.

• In August 2023, a dozen eggs cost $2.04.
• A dozen cost $1.20 in June 2019, the lowest price in at least 10 years, data shows.

Context: Avian influenza cases began in early 2022 and have affected 82 million birds, according to the CDC.

• The outbreak affected around 20 million birds in November and December 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
• About 2 million birds were affected in January and February.

Easter egg prices 2024

Easter is the second hottest demand period of the year for eggs, Moscogiuri said, noting it only trails the busy winter holidays.

• “Typically as we go into Easter, you see a lot of promotional activity and ads for Easter,” Moscogiuri said. “We’re not seeing as much of that this year because of those price levels that we’re coming off of.”

https://6b03c20fa30c358a91e65cbba8e5dec2.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html

Zoom in: Some retailers may entice shoppers with lower prices on eggs to drive sales of other holiday products like pre-assembled Easter baskets, Matt Pavich, senior director of strategy and innovation at Revionics, told Axios.

Federal prosecutors say a Montana rancher illegally used tissue and testicles from wild sheep that were killed by hunters in central Asia and the U.S. to breed “giant” sheep hybrids for sale to private hunting preserves in Texas

ByMATTHEW BROWN Associated Press

March 13, 2024, 1:05 PM

• https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/montana-man-animal-tissue-testicles-breed-giant-sheep-108092934

1:13

about:blank

National headlines from ABC News

Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.

BILLINGS, Mont. — A Montana rancher illegally used tissue and testicles from wild sheep killed by hunters in central Asia and the U.S. to breed “giant” hybrid sheep for sale to private hunting preserves in Texas, according to court documents and federal prosecutors.

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, of Vaughn, Montana pleaded guilty to felony charges of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to traffic wildlife during an appearance Tuesday before a federal judge in Great Falls. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Court documents describe a yearslong conspiracy, beginning in 2013, in which Schubarth and at least five other people sought to create “giant sheep hybrids” by cross-breeding different species. Their goal was to garner high prices from hunting preserves where people shoot captive trophy game animals for a fee.

Using biological tissue obtained from a hunter who killed a wild sheep in Kyrgyzstan belonging to the world’s largest species of the animals — Marco Polo argali sheep — Schubarth procured cloned embryos of the animal from a lab, according to court documents.

The embryos were later implanted in a ewe, resulting in a pure Marco Polo argali sheep that Schubert named “Montana Mountain King,” the documents show. Semen from Montana Mountain King was used to artificially impregnate other ewes to create a larger and more valuable species of sheep, including one offspring that he reached an agreement to sell to two people in Texas for $10,000, according to the documents.

Recent Stories from ABC News

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.627.0_en.html#goog_764678688

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.627.0_en.html#goog_764678689

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.627.0_en.html#goog_764678690Top Stories00:1500:36Connecticut considering barring legacyadmissions at private colleges, in addition to public ones

Male argali sheep can top 300 pounds with horns up to 5 feet long, according to officials, making them prized among some hunters. They are protected under international convention as a threatened species and outlawed for import into Montana to protect native sheep from disease and hybridization.

A person who was not named in court documents shipped 74 ewes of a prohibited sheep species from Minnesota to Schubarth’s ranch to be artificially inseminated with Montana Mountain King semen, the documents show. Offspring that had only a portion of the central Asian sheep’s genetics sold for lesser amounts.

In 2019, Schubarth paid $400 to a hunting guide for testicles from a trophy-sized Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep killed in Montana. Schubarth extracted semen from bighorn sheep testicles and used it to breed large bighorn sheep and sheep crossbred with the argali species, the documents show.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Todd Kim described Schubarth’s actions as “an audacious scheme to create massive hybrid sheep species to be sold and hunted as trophies.” Kim said the defendant violated the Lacey Act that restricts wildlife trafficking and prohibits the sale of falsely labeled wildlife.

Schubarth said when reached by telephone on Wednesday that his attorney had advised him not to talk about the case.

“I would love to talk about it but can’t do it now,” he said. His attorney, Jason Holden, did not immediately respond to telephone messages seeking comment.

Authorities agreed under the terms of a plea deal not to pursue further charges against the defendant pending his cooperation in the government’s ongoing investigation in the wildlife trafficking case.

Montana Mountain King is in the custody of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to Department of Justice spokesperson Matthew Nies. As part of the plea deal, Schubert agreed to quarantine any other sheep containing Marco Polo argali genetics and any bighorn sheep that were harvested from the wild.

The deal also allows federal wildlife officials to inspect and, if needed, neuter the animals.

Captive animal facilities where game species can be raised and hunted were banned in Montana under a 2000 ballot initiative. But they remain legal in some other states.

Recent Stories from ABC News

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.627.0_en.html#goog_927459917

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.627.0_en.html#goog_927459918

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.627.0_en.html#goog_927459919Top Stories00:0800:36Republicans push back on new federal courtpolicy aimed at ‘judge shopping’ in national cases

Schubarth’s 215-acre ranch is state-licensed as an alternative livestock facility, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesperson Greg Lemon. It was grandfathered in when the 2000 ballot initiative passed and has continued to operate, although hunting is prohibited, Lemon said.

Sentencing for Schubarth is set for July 11 before U.S. District Judge Brian Morris.