# Eggs: Trading

Chicago's lost egg futures and today's price quotes

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/trading/

Chicago's lost egg futures and today's price quotes What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.

Eggs are priced off quotations rather than exchanges. In the United States, Urner Barry (now part of Expana) and USDA market reports provide the benchmarks used in contracts between producers and retailers. CME itself began as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board, and egg futures once traded there, but they have long gone. In Europe, Dutch and German markets publish weekly quotations. Large integrated producers, such as Cal-Maine in the United States, sell much of their output under contract, often on cost-plus or quotation-linked formulas.

#### Where it is bought (buyers)

- Retailers, food-service chains and breaking plants buy eggs under contracts, many linked to published wholesale quotes
- In India, wholesale traders buy from farms at NECC-referenced rates and sell to small shops
- Importers in Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East buy eggs and egg products from neighbouring exporters

#### Where it is sold (sellers)

- US integrated producers, Dutch, Polish and Turkish exporters
- Indian layer clusters sell mainly into domestic markets

#### Exchanges and benchmarks

| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **Dalian Commodity Exchange** | Fresh egg futures | the only major listed egg contract |
| **India** | none | no Indian egg futures; NECC zone prices are the reference |

#### Contract types

- Retail supply contracts priced off wholesale quotes or on cost-plus formulas
- Spot sales to wholesalers and breakers
- Cage-free supply contracts with fixed premiums

#### Top trading houses

- Producers sell directly; egg traders and breakers handle surplus and imports

#### How prices are discovered

- USDA AMS daily egg price reports
- Expana (formerly Urner Barry) egg quotations
- NECC daily zone rates in India
- Dalian egg futures

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/cycles/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/eggs/links/index.md)