Is the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicting that egg prices will be $12 per dozen by fall 2022? No, that's not true: Although prices are expected to rise in 2022, the expected cost of a dozen eggs is nowhere near $12.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post on June 7, 2022. The post reads:
USDA is predicting egg prices will be $12 a dozen by Fall 2022!!
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Jun 10 15:30:34 2022 UTC)
Lead Stories reached out to USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) to ask about the claim. In an email dated June 10, 2022, Jennifer Smits, director of communications, responded that ERS does not have retail egg prices.
She pointed to forecasts of wholesale egg prices, which can be seen here. On page 31, fourth quarter 2022 egg prices are seen forecast at 170 cents per dozen.
Smits also said the ERS Food Price Outlook provides a forecast of changes to the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index for foods. The May summary, which can be seen here, notes that retail egg prices are expected to increase between 19.5 percent and 20.5 percent in 2022.
In April, the last month before the May summary, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the price of a dozen large Grade A eggs was $2.52. A 20.5 percent increase would be roughly $3.04 per dozen eggs.
That's a far cry from $12.
