While all three of the largest countries in North America are dealing with outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, egg prices are consistently lower in Canada and Mexico than in the United States. Consumers may wonder why.
In Canada, the average price for a dozen eggs was about $3.30 in January, according to Canada’s national statistics agency.
In Mexico, the price for a dozen eggs is around $2 or lower.
Meanwhile, according to the most recently published federal price data, Americans are paying more than $5 for a carton of eggs on average.
And although USDA data shows wholesale egg prices dropping since the beginning of March, prices at the grocery store remain high, reflecting retailer concerns over fluctuating supply.
According to interviews with U.S. government officials and trade experts and information provided by foreign agriculture agencies, there are significant differences in the composition of each country’s egg industry and the laws surrounding the production and marketing of eggs.
Notably, both Canada and Mexico have active federal measures to control the price of eggs, while the United States does not. Since the 1970s, Canada has used protection measures to control its supply of eggs and the price of the commodity. In the face of high inflation, the Mexican government recently enacted price controls on key goods, including controls on the price of eggs.
Mexico has dealt with outbreaks of various strains of highly pathogenic bird flu since the 1990s. However, it utilizes vaccines to combat the disease rather than culling large numbers of birds. U.S.-based sources told The Epoch Times the country also has lower sanitary standards for eggs.
Record Prices in US
As bird flu continues to impact America’s egg-laying flock, retail egg prices in the United States are consistently above average. American consumers paid an average of $5.90 for a dozen Grade A large eggs in February. That was the highest national average price on record, according to historical data stored by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Most of the spike in egg prices was attributable to a sharp decline in the size of the U.S. egg-laying flock due to consistent outbreaks of bird flu on commercial egg-laying operations and the resultant culling operations. In 2025 alone, according to the agriculture department, about 30.3 million hens have been lost through culling and disease.
The USDA now says that the egg supply is beginning to recover as the pace of outbreaks has slowed significantly. It remains unclear how soon consumers may see price relief at their local supermarket. According to the national retail egg price report published by the USDA, the average retail price of a dozen, conventionally raised, jumbo white eggs was $5.99 on March 21.
Mexico Struggles With Bird Flu
Since the highly pathogenic bird flu was first identified in China in the 1990s, it has spread widely. Avian health experts who previously spoke with The Epoch Times said the disease is spread globally by migratory birds.According to Mexico’s food safety and veterinary health department, known by its initials in Spanish as the SENASICA, the nation has faced sporadic outbreaks of bird flu since its first significant outbreak between 1994 and 1995.
The agency says Mexico remains at high risk for disease transmission due to the country’s numerous habitats for migratory aquatic birds and dabbling ducks. Those birds are considered to be transmitters of the virus, and they migrate to the country between September and April.
Mexico encountered 181 outbreaks of bird flu between January 2022 and August 2024.
Mexico vaccinates its commercial poultry following a veterinary strategy known as vaccinate-to-live, Greg Tyler, president and CEO of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, told The Epoch Times.
In this scenario, health authorities choose to vaccinate—rather than cull—sick birds, in the hope that infecting them with a weaker version of the virus will prompt them to form antibodies to fight off the virus.
In the United States, since the first bird flu outbreak in 2015, the preferred method of bird flu control has been stamping out—or culling—in order to limit the spread of the disease between farms, and to keep the virus from mutating into something more virulent.
Vaccinate-to-live is difficult from a global trade perspective, Tyler said, because of the high possibility that a live, vaccinated bird can appear well but actually be infected and, therefore, transmit the virus across borders. U.S. poultry breeding operations provide live genetic stock birds to farms around the world.
Additionally, Mexican authorities will pull a sick bird out of a commercial poultry house but leave others behind, Tyler said.
Mexico is a major destination for U.S. egg exports as well, Tyler said.
A senior USDA official who spoke with The Epoch Times noted that the United States does not allow the importation of eggs from Mexico, due to the country’s lower sanitary and food safety standards.
The latest figures published by Mexico’s National Information and Integration of Markets System showed that eggs were selling for 46 Mexican pesos per kilogram—or about 20 eggs—at retail in Mexico City. At exchange rates as of March 30, that’s about $2.26 per dozen.
That price is considered expensive to Mexican consumers, who eat more eggs per capita than any other country in the world, Tyler, who was in Mexico at the time of the interview, said.
However, Mexican official price data can be unreliable because many of the eggs sold in the country are purchased directly from small, local farmers, a senior USDA official told The Epoch Times.
The Mexican government recently imposed price controls on a number of staple foods such as eggs in order to combat inflation, Tyler said.
Supply Controls in Canada
Bird flu has been present on poultry farms in Canada but the country’s demographics and size cause the bird flu epidemic to present differently. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, bird flu was most recently detected in Lambton County, Ontario, on March 24.The Canadian government has imposed movement controls for farm animals across the country, and import controls remain active as of March 19.
In Canada, about 15 million commercial birds had been affected by the virus as of Feb. 25. According to the Canadian food safety agency, that figure includes both birds that died from the virus and those that were culled.
Before the current outbreak, which began in 2021, Canada dealt with limited bird flu outbreaks in 2010, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
According to Canadian economic and population figure reporting agency Statistics Canada, the price of eggs has remained stable in Canada over the past five months at about $4.80 Canadian dollars, or about $3.36 U.S. dollars.
Since 1972, Canada has maintained a supply control system governing its production of dairy, poultry, and eggs. This system is designed to keep prices stable and limit imports.
The Canadian system allows national agencies representing groups of farmers to “restrict production and set production quotas for each province.” The same system strictly limits exports of Canadian foodstuffs and “imposes a high customs tariff on imports beyond a certain amount to prevent foreign products from flooding the Canadian market.”
Egg Farmers of Canada—the national organization that manages the country’s egg supply—says that system protects its industry from supply chain disruptions, supports food sovereignty, and keeps farm incomes stable.
The size of individual Canadian egg operations is substantially smaller than their U.S. counterparts. In a February interview with Canadian public broadcaster CBC, Bruce Muirhead, the Egg Farmers of Canada’s public policy chair, said Canadian egg farms typically house about 25,000 hens, while an American operation can have millions of birds.
