Egg prices surged to unheard of heights over the past several years. The bosses of the giant egg company monopolies blamed it on an outbreak of bird flu. But what was really behind the price hikes was the monopolies combined to jack up prices, raking in hefty profits.
In response to growing outrage by working people about the overall rise in grocery prices, exacerbated by the huge jump in egg prices, the U.S. Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general felt compelled to file a complaint in U.S. District Court in Iowa June 29 against some of the biggest egg monopolies — Cal-Maine Foods, Versova and Hickman’s Egg Ranch.
Between June 2022 and March 2025 these giant companies coordinated efforts to “artificially inflate the daily price quotations for eggs,” the complaint says. They would submit big orders reported by Urner Barry Publications, an influential egg industry journal that runs an index that helps determine how much grocery stores and others charge for eggs. Then the three big egg companies would cancel their orders.
“In September 2022, Cal-Maine told investors egg prices had risen because supply had tightened due to bird flu,” the Financial Times said. But under growing pressure, “the company acknowledged” three months later “there had been no positive bird flu tests at any Cal-Maine-owned or contracted production facility.”
Mississippi-based Cal-Maine, the largest egg company in the U.S., selling more than 15 billion eggs each year, reaped giant profits from this scam. Though it sold only 7% more eggs in fiscal 2024 than in fiscal 2021, its gross profit more than tripled. For the 2025 fiscal year the company reported $1.22 billion profits.
“We are bidding up. Let’s hold it today,” a Cal-Maine executive texted a fellow conspirator at Hickman’s Egg Ranch, the suit quotes. It was one of numerous such texts sent over these years, while their public stance was that bird flu was responsible.
By March 2025 average U.S. egg prices had soared to a record high, an outrageous $6.23 per dozen. As working people complained, the federal government announced three months later it would investigate whether the companies were operating a profit-boosting price-fixing scheme.
The egg monopoly bosses, like workers and everyone else, are entitled to a fair trial. But what happened next was egg prices began to drop, hitting as low as $2.20 per dozen by May 2026.
The same day that the complaint was filed in federal court, Cal-Maine Foods, Versova and Hickman’s Egg Ranch agreed to a settlement. While indignantly insisting that they didn’t do anything wrong, they promised to donate 53 million eggs to food banks and to pay a combined $3.3 million fine. This needs to be approved by a court.
This is how capitalism works, with behemoth monopolies with government connections using price-fixing and other schemes to force working people to foot the bill for higher profits.
While egg prices have since come down, that’s not the case for many other necessities at the grocery store. Workers today face prices that have risen more than 25% over the past five years.