Egg shortages on the mainland caused prices on the Big Island to spike at the beginning of the summer, but costs appear to have reached their peak.
Prices began to rise early in the summer across the country, setting a record in early June, after outbreaks of avian influenza caused the deaths of millions of laying hens in Midwestern and western states.
Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted earlier this year that the virus would die off in the summer heat. David Swayne, a USDA research laboratory director, said during a Senate hearing Thursday that the virus was eradicated for the time being.
But although the last confirmed instance of the disease was on June 17, the effects of the outbreak are still being felt.
The flocks primarily impacted were hens that produce eggs for the “breaker” market: eggs used in processed foods. With the breaker market stressed, the effects trickled to the consumer market.
Last month, the Associated Press reported that the Department of Agriculture would begin allowing European countries to import their eggs as a means of making up for the shortage.
Because there are no commercial egg farms on the Big Island, and most distributors import from the mainland, the shortage also has been felt closer to home. As of last week, prices of mainland eggs were on par with those on Oahu, where Hawaii’s last egg farms are located.
Still, both the Oahu eggs from Safeway and the mainland eggs at Sack N Save were more than $5 for a dozen.
At both Sack N Save locations, signs posted in the cold foods section alert customers to the reasoning behind the jump in prices.
Steve Bates, Sack N Save manager at the Kinoole Street location, said that the increases were largely out of his control.
“The pricing went up at our distributor,” he said. “The main office controls pricing.”
He said customers have been understanding about the additional costs.
“It’s a well-known thing,” Bates said.
Rick Milo, general manager at Ken’s House of Pancakes, said that while the restaurant had noticed “quite an increase” in prices, they had not noticed a shortage in egg availability.
“We’ve got good delivery, we’re crossing our fingers,” Milo said.
“At this time, it seems to have slowed down,” said Marianne Taylor, owner of Keaau-based wholesale distributor Big Island Poultry. “We believe it’s peaked, but again, it’s all dependent on the spread of the bird flu in the Midwest.”
Outbreaks of avian influenza were first confirmed in several western states in December. The strain was found in the central United States in March. Scientists at the Department of Agriculture believe the disease was transmitted via wild birds.
Some strains of bird flu are also deadly to humans, but this year’s outbreak has affected only birds.
Farms in Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska were hit the hardest.