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Egg demand explosion tied to COVID-19 panic buying

An analyst attributes coronavirus-related panic buying to an explosion in egg demand.

Brian Moscoguiri with market reporting service Urner Barry says he’s never seen anything quite like it.  But he does draw comparisons to how people respond to a big snowstorm.

“Where the consumers will run to the stores and panic shop for their staple items (like) milk, bread, toilet paper, and eggs. And they act as if they’re not going to get out of their homes for a long time, but those storms are generally finite.”

He tells Brownfield there’s typically a balance between the rush and shutoff in demand.

“But this is happening on a national level, (and) it’s a prolonged impact. And people are concerned they’re not going to get out of their homes and don’t want to do their grocery shopping for a three to six week, and really it could be up to a three-month period of time.”

Moscoguiri says wholesale egg prices have hit all-time highs, which is starting to be felt at the retail level.  But he’s confident extra work on the supply side will help to even out volatility going forward.

With many restaurants closed, he says that has alleviated some of the pressure on egg supplies too.