General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: In baking, 1/4 cup plain yogurt substitutes for one egg. [View all]Just A Box Of Rain
(5,104 posts)So yes, a cull of over 40 million would cause exactly the sorts of price increases we've seen in regions where the outbreak has been bad.
And demand for eggs remains high (with an inelastic supply curve) for a number of reasons:
1) The historically cheap price of eggs makes them a particularly high-value protein source, even with a price rise.
2) There are really no close substitutes, and not ones that tend to be price competitive or acceptable to consumer tastes.
3) The cost of eggs, while rising ion percentage terms, are expenditures constitute only a small portion of average the consumers income.
For this reason, eggs are a fairly "inelastic" commodity, so demand remains high even when the supply falls, and therefore prices rise.
Basic economics.