In its latest quarterly report, Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg-producing company in the United States, announced that its profits increased more than 700% due to high prices.
In the past month, a dozen eggs in the US cost about $3.30 dollars, that is, double its price a year ago. Cal-Maine Foods, which owns more than 20% of the market, in February managed to sell with an increase of 1%, which means that its income reached $997.5 million dollars, that is, 109%.
Although the second week of March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report showing a 6.7% decrease in the cost of eggs. Cal-Maine Foods’ net income soared to $323.2 million from $39.5 million a year ago.
Since the beginning of the year, the price of eggs has reached its maximum, driven by, among other things, the deadly avian flu, the cost of production, transport, inflation, among others.
But it seems that the advantage between Cal-Maine and other egg companies is that it recently stated that they have found no traces of infection in any of their facilities. While other farmers claimed to have slaughtered more than 50 million birds infected with bird flu.
The impressive increase in eggs in the United States is strongly questioned and large producers are accused of being part of the speculation. Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the companies: “American families working to put food on the table deserve to know if the increase in the prices they are paying for eggs represents a legitimate response to reduced supply or runaway corporate greedl,” the letter said.
For its part, the US Department of Agriculture assured last month that it is expected that during the spring of this year the virus will reappear again due to the migration season, since birds move from one place to another spreading the flu, this could continue to affect both the producing companies and the pockets of consumers.
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Source: La Opinion
