Easter dinner and egg decorations may cost more this year
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It's Easter Sunday and for many that means coloring eggs, well...if you haven't already.
However, this year, you might have noticed that those eggs aren't coming cheap.
It's hard to think of Easter and not think of eggs.
While the price of eggs has come down in recent weeks, the cost of a dozen eggs is still pretty high. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index, the price for a dozen large eggs was $4.21, which is better than the $4.82 in January, but nowhere near the roughly $2 a year ago.
Even though the prices are easing, shoppers are still paying 55-percent more for a dozen eggs than they did a year earlier and the reason for that is an outbreak of the avian flu.
Tens of millions of egg-laying hens have been slaughtered in what has become the deadliest bird flu outbreak in U.S. history, which limited the supply and pushed prices higher.
It's not only egg prices that are hitting the pocketbooks.
Rising food costs have continued to squeeze household budgets in recent months, as prices jumped by an annual rate of 10.2-percent in February.
Bottom line: prices are up for food this Easter and Passover, and though egg prices are easing, coloring and decorating something like cookies may be a more cost-effective option.