
Eggs Prices Soar All Over The U.S.
After Midwestern States have been hit by a Bird Flu Epidemic, millions of birds were slaughtered. The resulting shortage in production have determined eggs prices to soar all over the U.S.
Highly pathogenic Avian Flu cases have been reported in at least 4 states that include Nebraska and South Dakota, requiring the slaughter of millions of birds in farms all over the affected states.
The disease also affected turkey farms and pullet farms, in Minnesota. In total over 47 million birds were killed in order to prevent further spread.
The USDA calculated that record prices will be registered this year due to these worrying events.
The general public has not been affected much by these price increases yet, but some do complain that the their shopping lists have changed a bit. Notably the larger families have been seeing their weekly expenditures rise.
However individual families are not the only ones affected economically, poultry farms have off course registered losses. Farmers who raise chickens or other birds through contracts with big companies might also be in trouble.
So far only a few eggs suppliers have set limits on how many eggs they will sell to each grocery store.
Further increases in prices, will definitely be seen from producers of poultry egg or meat based merchandise.
Since the price of basic ingredients for many processed foods have risen so will the finished products. Processed meat, ready cooked meals and many other grocery store products might have their prices increased by this series of events.
Grocery stores accuse shortages for their recent price increases, but it is expected that with new livestock replacing the killed ones, prices might even start dropping back by the end of the year.
Nationwide some grocery stores have even increased the price for a carton of eggs by 120 percent between May and June.
The Centers for Disease Control that analyzed the epidemic say that, U.S. poultry products found on the market are safe to eat. This announcement should keep shoppers from avoiding poultry products and it is economically crucial to the situation they continue buying such produces.
A further downfall of poultry product sales , could force companies to increase prices further in order to cover their loses. While major companies are not expected to do so, smaller producers who do not have adequate emergency funds might.
Centers for Disease Control also stated that no humans were affected by the avian virus.
Image Source: abc.net