The egg crisis continues to whip the United States. Also many other countries, but the United States is starring in a moment when the Price of eggs is true economic thermometer. After an increase of more than 50% year -on -year in January of this year and rises of increases of more than 41% throughout 2025, there are those who are already resorting to something worthy of dry law or prohibited products.
Because yes, there is something that concerns US border agents as much as drug trafficking: illegal traffic of Mexican eggs.
Egg. The United States has lived for years a negative spiral in regards to its eggs. Just a year ago we echoed how US consumers warned that their eggs were increasingly fragile, finding more and more pieces of peel when they broke them. It is the result of a cluster of factors: an aviar flu that has ended millions of birds and the need to sacrifice as many millions, as well as the need to keep their louder laying hens more time in activity.
The more the chicken, the less eggs and of lower quality it produces, but the farmers are forced to keep them because the consumption wheel cannot stop. And national production is already quite touched. In summary: there are no eggs and the demand is still there, which has caused the average price of a dozen eggs to reach $ 4.95 in January and $ 5.90 in February.
Eggs smuggling. The worst has not happened: not only is it not expected, as we say, that the situation improves, but that two festivities such as the Jewish Easter of April 12 and the Christian Easter on April 20 are approaching, in which the eggs have a leading role. The shortage is causing restaurants that charge a surcharge if an egg plate is requested and the illegal import of eggs is already a topic of conversation in the country.
A case that demonstrates the unreal of the situation is the one that the Wall Street Journal recounts: in one of the border steps of El Paso, in Texas, the agents stopped a vehicle with almost 30 kilos of methamphetamine, but what really made their alarms jump were several egg trays that also went in the vehicle. Because, given this situation, there are already those who are happening Mexican and Canadian eggs within the American border.
Booming interceptions. According to the CBP, which is the US Customs and Border Protection office, “eggs interceptions” have increased 36% in this fiscal year. In Texas it has increased by 54%, but in other areas it has doubled. Roger Maier is the spokesman of the CPB in El Paso and does not discover America by stating that “the price difference is the reason: it is approximately one third of what it costs in the United States.”
When we talk about the dozen costing $ 5.90 on February, we talked about that, an average. They can find themselves cheaper, but also much more expensive. There are cities in which prices are more than $ 10 per dozen. In Mexico, they are below two dollars, so it is so attractive to put them illegally in the country.
I go shopping to Mexico. And here there are two other added problems. There may be anyone who wants to trade with those eggs, but border agents comment that what are being found are many travelers who cross from one country to another with dozens of eggs for personal use and are not aware that they are prohibited products. If they declare the load, there are no problems, but many do not and try to hide the eggs in different ways inside the vehicle.
Added difficulty. When they are caught, the eggs are requisitioned and, as with other products, they are taken to incinerators in which they carbonize. To curl the curl, during Easter, Mexicans empty and decorate eggs. They fill them with confetti and other elements and cannot be eaten (there is no food matter there), but in the WSJ article the agents already comment that they will have to make sure that these eggs, called ‘Cascarones’, really do not have any egg inside.
National measures. The authorities’ response to this problem is a series of actions to help fight the price escalation. On the one hand, the US Department of Agriculture has allocated 1,000 million dollars that add up to 2,000 million since 2022 to improve biosecurity in farms, help affected farmers and investigate vaccines.
On the other hand, more eggs are importing from countries that comply with US sanitary norms. As a short -term solution, they want to import eggs, but it is always key that the sanitary standards are met, since each country has its own. Türkiye, for example, has already begun to export containers with 15,000 tons of eggs.
Search for solutions -legals-. There are also people who do not resort to the smuggling of eggs, but to the search for alternatives so as not to depend on a market that has become a real Russian mountain. One of those solutions is … to rent chickens. For 600 dollars, he six months, a company rent a two chickens kit, advice and what is necessary to keep them this time.
The direct accounts do not come out: if two chickens put 12 eggs a week, there are 312 eggs in those six months, united in 26 dozen. Five dollars the dozen, there are $ 130 if you Buy them directly. The problem is no longer the price, but there are establishments that run out of their daily cargo in just a few minutes.
There are companies in the US that already rent chickens kits with chicken coop so that they give eggs for six months
World problem. There is a lot of talk about the United States, but in other countries the thing is not much better. Spain, and Europe, are examples. The ghost of the Aviar flu is there, but data from the Facua Price Observatory and of the R raols of Toledo or Bellpuig show that the eggs are rising again. It is something that varies between the type of egg and the chain, but it is already a fact that is more expensive to make an omelet today than a few months ago.
And, to all those ingredients, we must add that producers will have to put their facilities up to date to end the terror farms. This is something that comes from Europe and aims to end the cages in chickens, something that, according to the interprofessional organization of the egg and its products, will require an investment of 2.3 billion euros.
What is clear is that the rise in egg prices is far from finishing, and their smuggling is a consequence of an unsustainable situation for many families.
Imágenes | Rent the Chicken, Flixtey
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