(NewsDakota.com/NAFB) – The price of eggs is projected to fall dramatically after reaching record-high levels over several months.

The USDA says those prices should fall back to typical levels this year, provided the U.S. doesn’t see a rebound in highly pathogenic avian influenza cases in 2023. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the price of eggs in January was $4.80 a dozen, 150 percent higher than in January of last year.

USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer told the Ag Outlook Forum attendees that wholesale egg prices will drop almost 27 percent in 2023. The agency says the high price of eggs is driven by the historic level of avian flu outbreaks that have killed more than 58 million backyard and commercial chickens and turkeys since last February.

The agency says egg production will increase four percent this year to 9.4 billion dozen as the number of egg-laying chickens will also rebound from 2022.