) Unavailability of Corn
To explore why egg prices are rising, we can look back to the supply and demand dynamic and production chain for this commodity. To produce these eggs, farmers use corn for 50-55% of their farm feed. However, the price for corn nationally has risen by  (Risky, 2023). This phenomenon dates back to early 2021 for which the price hike happened starting August 10th 2020 (Trading Economics, 2023). The reason for corn's price hike is likely to be due to distribution problems for local farmers (Nasution, 2021) as well as the government not wanting to import corn (Sandi, 2023).Â
Another notable event is Indonesia's egg import. Ironically, according to Rachman (2023) the import of eggs rose by 118% in 2023 amidst this inflation. Putra & Aziz (2023) even goes too far to mention that the egg produced nationally being 5,15 million tons is more than enough to to fulfill the national demand of 4,95 million. Theoretically, this should make the prices of eggs fall due to its overabundance of supply. However, the rising price of corn makes the breakeven point for farmers higher. As a result, the price for eggs produced nationally continues to rise in order to compensate for the rising cost as well as to survive in the midst of the competition. Thus, a cost-push inflation happens to the price of eggs
2.) The Pandemic and Inflation
It is no secret that the pandemic struck the global economy hard. For Indonesia, inflation hits the hardest in the year 2022 with inflation reaching almost 6%, the highest in 5 years. As the disease becomes more prevalent, their overabundance of aggregate demand from the consumers causes inflation (Bernanke & Blanchard, 2023). For instance, due to social distancing, the supply chain becomes disrupted as a variety of protocols are needed. This increases its price as stakeholders must prepare for greater contingencies.
3.) H5N1 Outbreak
Farmers have always been at war with H5N1 or more commonly called the bird flu outbreak. Recent reports of the outbreak happening goes as far as January where multiple ducks died suddenly with positive results for H5N1 in their body. This outbreak is not something isolated in Indonesia but rather is a worldwide phenomenon (CDC, 2023). Avian flu is so feared by farmers as it is a disease that spreads quickly. Given a farmer does not invest in vaccines, should the flu strike, the disease can take out 80 to 100% of the overall herd.
With the H5N1 outbreak, there  is a disruption in the supply as farmers' chickens are dying. The vaccine itself is an extra Rp10,000 per chicken (Pappa, 2021) which can reach into millions spent in bigger farms. Thus, for farmers, they must spend more to keep their kennel safe and this is reflected in the prices of eggs being a product of a chicken other than the chicken itself. Therefore, in order to fund the healthcare the chicken requires, farmers all around Indonesia increased their price to accommodate the rising trend of H5N1 virus and thus causing an inflation of their chicken-based products such as the eggs.
b. Demand-Pull Factors
) Consumer BehaviorÂ
Indonesia is obsessed with eggs, so obsessed that its consumption rises by 2.45% per year (Figure 2). This growth does not even account for the huge hike in consumption for which the average consumption rises from 0,94 kg a day to 1,94 kg per capita per week (Annur, 2023).
