Eggs are now so expensive that Americans are smuggling them from MEXICO with a 300% increase in arrests

Egg prices have skyrocketed over the past year that Americans are now looking to smuggle them across the US-Mexico border.

A prolonged outbreak of bird flu, combined with soaring feed, fuel and labor costs, has more than doubled US egg prices in the past year and sent shockwaves across grocery stores. chemical.

According to the latest government data, the national average price for a dozen eggs hit $4.25 in December, up from $1.78 a year earlier.

Customs data through January 17 shows a 91% increase in the number of eggs seized at the El Paso, Texas field office, 301% in Laredo, Texas, 333 % in Tucson, Arizona and 368% in San Diego , California over the same period last year.

As egg prices rise in the US, some Americans are trying to save money by buying them in Mexico and bringing them back across the border.

Bringing eggs back to the United States from Mexico is illegal and has led to an increase in the number of seizures at the border. Border image of El Paso, Texas, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Bringing eggs back to the United States from Mexico is illegal and has led to an increase in the number of eggs being confiscated at the southern border.

Most of the eggs seized involved boxes of 30 eggs that tourists bought for personal use because the prices were significantly lower at stores in Mexico.

California, Texas and Arizonan residents living near the border often buy groceries from Mexican stores, but some produce, including raw eggs, are not allowed into the US due to the risk of spreading Newcastle disease and influenza Poultry.

In most cases, people are usually unaware of such restrictions with eggs seized from tourists who reported their purchases to inspectors.

Those who do so are not penalized but there have been a number of cases where eggs were undeclared and visitors were fined.

The price of a dozen eggs has increased from $1.46 in January 2020 to $4.25 in December 2022

A prolonged outbreak of bird flu, combined with soaring feed, fuel and labor costs, has more than doubled US egg prices over the past year and sent shocks through stores. .

Egg prices in the US have been significantly higher over the past year, with prices in December being 60% more expensive than in 2021, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index.

Costs have risen much higher than for other foods like chicken or turkey – because chicken farmers were hit harder by avian flu and the subsequent devastation of hen flocks.

More than 43 million of the 58 million poultry slaughtered in the past year to control the virus were egg-laying hens, including some farms with more than a million birds in major egg-producing states like Iowa.

However, consumers also feel some relief when wholesale prices of eggs have fallen slightly over the past month.

In some places, it can even be difficult to find eggs on the shelves. But the overall egg supply is increasing as the total flock is down only about 5% from the normal size of about 320 million hens.

Farmers have been working to replace their herds as soon as possible after the outbreak.

Purdue University agricultural economist Jayson Lusk said he believes avian flu is the biggest cause of price increases. Unlike previous years, the virus persisted throughout the summer and broke out again last fall, infecting egg and poultry farms.

“Avian flu isn’t the only factor, but in my opinion it’s the main driver of what we’re going through right now,” Lusk said.

Egg shelves are seen with a note apologizing to customers for the price increase following a drop in yield due to poultry dying from various diseases, in San Mateo, California, last week

But the president and chief executive officer of the American Egg Board trade group, Emily Metz, said she believes all of the increased costs farmers have faced over the past year have been a bigger factor in the price increase than they have been. with avian influenza.

‘When you’re looking at fuel costs going up, and you’re looking at feed costs up by 60 per cent, labor costs, packaging costs – all those things… certainly those are the things. much bigger factor than bird flu,’ Metz said.

Jada Thomson, an agricultural economist at the University of Arkansas, said egg prices could fall slightly over the next few months as egg farmers have gradually replaced their flocks lost to bird flu last year. and demand will ease a bit as people finish with their holiday baking.

However, she said bird flu remains a pandemic that could drive prices higher if there are larger outbreaks at egg farms.

Farmers are doing all they can to limit the spread, but the disease is highly contagious because wild birds migrate and the virus can get on clothing or vehicles.

“But there are some things that are beyond our control,” Thompson said. ‘Sometimes you can’t control nature.’

Egg shelves are seen with a note apologizing to customers for the price increase following a drop in yield due to poultry dying from various diseases, in San Mateo, California last week

Source: | This article originally belonged to Dailymail.co.uk