Easter price inflation, items that are ‘hopping’ around in price

The average price for eggs right now is about $3 a dozen.

Angelica Toruno and Nicole Alarcon Soares

Mar 27, 2024, 9:27 PM

Updated 202 days ago

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Prices on certain items are jumping.
News 12’s Angelica Toruno investigates the staples that are "hopping" around in price, with Easter happening on Sunday,
Eggs and chocolates are sure to be on many people’s grocery list these days.
The average price for eggs right now is about $3 a dozen.
It's cheaper than the record high of $4.82 in January last year, but it’s still a lot higher than the average cost before the pandemic – which was $1.45 per dozen.
"We normally sell 20,000 dozen eggs a week at Stew Leonard's, Easter week double that it's 40,000," said Stew Leonard Jr., president and CEO of Stew Leonard’s.
And if you’ve noticed chocolates in stores with higher price tags than usual, Leonard Jr., at Stew Leonard's, says that could be due to its main ingredient cocoa.
"It comes from a lot of the droughts you have in Africa right now and also India; it's increased not only the cocoa prices but also the sugar prices," said Leonard Jr.
Another Easter staple impacted by sugar costs are Jelly beans.
"We didn't want to go over $3.99 so we reduced the size of the container a little bit," said Leonard Jr.
The National Retail Federation expects a total of about $22.4 billion to be spent this Easter season.
Food is expected to be the highest category, then clothing and gifts.