BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Egg prices have finally started to, ahem, crack at local grocery chains and are heading in a direction for which shoppers have anxiously waited — down.
Some of the cheapest prices spotted Tuesday included $5.79 for a dozen large cartoned white eggs at Wegmans, while prices at Giant were around $5.99 a dozen, with cage-free eggs at $6.69 a dozen.
It’s a decline of $2 to $3 per dozen after months of record highs.
What’s behind the decline?
According to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service Egg Markets Overview report, wholesale prices, or what retailers pay to procure eggs, fell as low as $4.78 per dozen for large cartoned shell eggs in the Northeast region — a decline of 33% month to month.
That coincides with reported national egg inventory growing by over 4%, with more retailers seeing stabilized supply.
LehighValleyNews.com reached out to both Wegmans and Giant to determine how retailers are passing savings onto consumers and if prices would continue to fall, but only received a response from Wegmans.
In its Lehigh Valley stores, Wegmans advertised purchasing limits on eggs, with signs noting a "limit of 10 cartons per customer."
"Costs are just starting to come down," a company spokesperson said Friday.
"We expect retails to start waning within the next 10 days but will remain elevated compared to last year.
"As for limits, we will continue to keep the limit of 10 in place. These limits were designed to ensure the households shopping with us every day would have the ability to purchase eggs on any trip they make to our stores."
According to reports, some grocery stores are waiting to see whether declines in wholesale prices hold steady rather than immediately adjusting prices for consumers.
What about bird flu?
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the ongoing avian flu outbreak, or H5N1 bird flu, remains a concern in wild birds worldwide and continues to cause outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows.
"Outbreaks in highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial table egg layer flocks in 2025 have resulted in the depopulation of 30.3 million birds."U.S. Department of Agriculture
But according to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the USDA, while tens of millions of egg-laying hens were culled so far in 2025, no significant outbreaks have been reported in March.
"Outbreaks in highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial table egg layer flocks in 2025 have resulted in the depopulation of 30.3 million birds," the USDA said.
It said it had confirmed 40 outbreaks in layer flocks in nine states, including Pennsylvania.
The state Agriculture Department said in late January that a positive case of avian flu was found in a Lehigh County poultry flock — the first case in Pennsylvania in 2025.
The department said the positive test came from a 50,000-bird egg-laying chicken flock on a commercial farm, though it did not identify the farm by name.
With no reported outbreaks nationwide in March, it means flock sizes have once again started to increase, letting egg supplies gradually stabilize.
Wegmans said in its response it takes about 6 months from when an outbreak occurs until those same houses start to get egg production ramped up again.
"It takes time to clean the houses and then for the chicks to mature to the point the hens can start laying eggs. We’re not out of the woods yet though as the number of egg-laying hens is still near an all-time low," the company said.
Will prices continue to fall?
There are a number of variables affecting prices beyond the avian flu outbreak.
The Wall Street Journal reported March 7 that the U.S. Justice Department had launched a civil antitrust probe into potential price manipulation by egg producers.
The investigation would look at “whether large producers have conspired to raise prices or hold back supply,” the story said.
The probe could influence consumer behavior going forward — if that behavior hasn’t already changed.
Weakened consumer demand is contributing to the decline in wholesale pricing, according to the New York Times, but there may be increased demand for eggs heading into Easter.
Overall, economists say prices will largely depend on grocery stores’ strategies, and they may not pass the entirety of savings of wholesale pricing onto consumers at this point.
