ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — While grocery shopping has gotten more expensive for many in recent months, there’s one item with a price that tends to stick out the most: eggs.
Eggs are the latest item with a price that has skyrocketed, partly because of an avian flu outbreak as well as inflation. However, several farmers across northeast Ohio said that higher costs for feed, farm equipment and equipment repair have also contributed to the egg price hike.
“Prices are out of control,” said James Rego, co-owner of Lake Road Market in Rocky River, about 20 minutes west of downtown Cleveland.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the cost of eggs in December went up nearly 60% compared to the year before, with prices reaching $6 for a carton of a dozen large brown Grade A eggs.
The BLS said that’s the highest yearly increase in egg prices since the early 1970s.
“Right now, you can buy organic eggs cheaper than you can buy regular or large jumbo eggs,” Rego said.
The price hike, Rego said, has led to fewer shoppers picking up this staple item and has certainly led to even more stress for Rego to deal with right now.
“It eats into your profit margin because you can’t gouge people,” he said. “You can’t set your prices so high that nobody is going to buy anything. Eggs are perishable, they’re dated. You have to move them.”
For now, Rego said he’s simply stuck waiting for prices to drop and hoping that happens sooner rather than later.
“I don’t know, just ride the storm out,” Rego said.
