Why are eggs so expensive at Publix and other Miami grocery stores? What shoppers can do

Cleanup in Aisle 1. Egg prices are a mess.

Mayra Odio, shopping at a Kendall Publix for her parents who live in Miami, recoiled from the display of eggs as if she’d seen a cobra swallowing eggs whole.

“I can’t believe this. Is this how much it costs? Like $8?” Odio said at the Publix in Kendall Palms at Town & Country Mall. She pointed toward the specialty Eggland’s Best Large Brown 18-count carton with its $8.25 tag. A Publix Large Brown 18-Count organic variety was $9.39.

“Oh, no. I’m not buying it. Too expensive. Not only here, but at Walmart. Everywhere,” Odio said.

The incredible edible egg has turned into the incredibly expensive egg.

To be fair, an array of price tags dotted the display case. A carton of 12 extra large white Publix eggs was marked $5.89 — cheaper than Christmastime when, on an unscientific price check trek at various chains around Miami-Dade, the same eggs sold for $6.15 at a Pinecrest Publix.

Even among chains, prices can vary for the same item at different locations because of supply costs and market demand.

And customers might find some cheaper eggs at big-box stores that take a loss with some products or get by on volume sales. On a Facebook discussion group, for instance, one shopper found the same eggs that increased to $6.25 at a Broward Publix in November were holding at $2.92 at a nearby Walmart Neighborhood Market.

READ MORE: We went grocery shopping in Miami for you to compare prices. Which store was cheapest?

Soaring egg prices

Grocery chain differences aside, egg prices have soared. The cost jumped 11.1% in December and consumer prices for shell eggs skyrocketed 60% from December 2021 to December 2022, according to the USDA.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, the national average price for a dozen grade A large eggs in December 2022 was $4.25. In November, it was $3.59.

By comparison, in December 2021, those same eggs were $1.79. In December 2020, $1.49. And in December 2019, before the COVID outbreak, $1.54.

Avian influenza outbreak

Factors for the rise include lingering supply chain complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But a primary factor driving egg prices is the deadliest avian influenza outbreak in U.S. history, according to the USDA.

Continued outbreaks of the bird flu in commercial table egg layer flocks since February 2022 have led to the depopulation of over 44 million laying hens, the USDA reported. Since February, depopulations at commercial layer facilities have reduced domestic supplies of eggs by roughly 7.5% per month, on average, the agency said.

There are as many tiny, green “Our Apologies” placards as price cards at the Publix eggs display — but the Lakeland-based chain isn’t apologizing for the prices, but rather the lack of supply that has led to gaps on the shelves.

READ MORE: Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year. Why do some foods keep getting more pricey?

A customer’s dilemma

So here’s customer Mayra Odio’s quandary as she looks over the brands and their prices in the egg aisle at the Kendall Publix on Thursday afternoon. She helps care for her 97-year-old father. “He needs protein,” she says. But he’s also, as many caretakers to elderly parents come to realize, “a picky eater.”

Will it be the $5.79 Publix large white eggs? Or the $3.89 Nellie’s Jumbos?

“I’ll go someplace else. Or I’ll buy less quality of eggs because I always go with the Eggland’s. Probably may go with the other one that’s a little bit like the $4.31,” she says, reaching forward.

It’s a Publix brand.

“I may go with that one,” she says, carefully lifting the catch on the Styrofoam carton. But the package she plucks from the display has several cracked shells. Back it goes.

“It’s just outrageous,” Odio says, giving up and turning toward the meat section. “It’s unbelievable. I mean, it’s incredible.”

But what about Dad?

The bacon and meat prices are so high, Odio sighs. “Even the seafood is less.”