U.S. egg prices this year are at a record high following the worst bird-flu outbreak in history, according to a Department of Agriculture report.

Prices for Grade A large eggs in the New York market jumped 19% from the prior estimate to $2.01 a dozen, the USDA said in the report released Wednesday. That is the most expensive price for a dozen eggs, according to data going back to 2000.A record bird-flu outbreak killed more than 48 million fowl in the first half of 2015, raising egg prices to a record $2.77 a dozen on the week of Aug. 7, and hurting companies such as Cal-Maine Foods Inc., the country's largest egg supplier. Prices had been as low as $1.06 a dozen on Jan. 9."Prices are likely to get even stronger into the baking season with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up ahead," Thomas Elam, president of Farmecon LLC in Indianapolis, said by telephone on Wednesday. He estimates that the shortage could persist into next fall.In May, Goldman Sachs estimated that U.S. consumers pay $7.5 billion to $8 billion more this year to buy eggs, an increase of at least 75% from 2014.