WASHINGTON - An egg shortage in the United States continues with prices remaining high and showing no signs of abating for consumers, an expert said.The problem has hit some grocery chains amid the largest bird flu outbreak in a decade.The bird flu has prompted farmers to slaughter millions of chickens, and it has caused egg prices in the United States to more than double since 2023. The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects egg prices to rise 20 percent this year.Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), told Xinhua that egg prices "have gotten really high. I don't know if they're going to go much higher."The average price of a dozen large A-grade eggs reached $4.15 in December 2024, up 14 percent from $3.65 in November, according to official data. That also marked a more than 60 percent increase from $2.51 a year ago, CBS News reported.On Friday (February 7), the average wholesale price for large, white-shelled eggs hit $8 per dozen, beating the previous record by a large margin, according to data from Expana, which tracks agricultural commodity prices, CNBC reported.