Sales are brisk at this little-known clearinghouse that sells eggs by the billions - Entrepreneur Generations

 ECI trade currency is eggs.
(Eggleston Farm Fresh Foods photo)

A big hot spot for egg sales isn't at the grocery store. It's at a New England clearinghouse affectionately known as the "Wall Street of Eggs," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "From an office building in New Hampshire, roughly a dozen people facilitate the trading of billions of eggs a year, a task that shapes what Americans pay per dozen at the supermarket or for omelets at diners."

Who knew? Very few. Thomas explains, "The Egg Clearinghouse, or ECI, is little known outside the industry: It operates an online marketplace that allows participants to place bids on eggs listed for sale and see the results of trades. Only ECI members — farmers and egg buyers — are allowed to trade."

Given the plummeting numbers of egg-laying hens due to bird flu deaths, the business is a seller's market. "Last year marked the company’s busiest, trading over 2.6 billion shell eggs and 39 million pounds of egg product valued at more than $600 million." ECI doesn't dominate the "broader egg market. . .but plays a crucial role in providing eggs for those in need or having trouble getting them, and how they are priced."

ECI operations are similar to stock exchanges, using eggs as their currency. It was created "as an alternative way to price and trade the commodity versus larger exchanges that operated in New York and Chicago," Thomas explains. "ECI began brokering trades in 1971 and its board was made up of industry executives including Fred Adams Jr., the founder of the largest U.S. egg producer, Cal-Maine."

The notion of egg trading is unique among food commodities which generally don't rely on "little-known exchange service to determine their value," Thomas reports. "All trades are blind, and only after a deal does ECI allow the parties to know each other’s identity."

Even as egg prices climb, American consumers continue to pay the painful cost per dozen. "Consumers on average are paying about $5 a dozen, a record high and double the price from roughly a year ago, according to the Labor Department," Thomas writes. "Demand has remained steady despite the high sticker prices, prompting some restaurants to add surcharges for egg dishes and consumers to step up purchases of liquid eggs or substitutes."

To read more about the egg "stock market," read the full story here.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/6EFzQVw Sales are brisk at this little-known clearinghouse that sells eggs by the billions - Entrepreneur Generations

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