Cracks in supply chain raise cost of eggs by 20pc in a fortnight

THE price of eggs has surged by 20 per cent in just two weeks as Britain’s supply crisis deepens.

The latest rise means the cost of eggs has rocketed 50 per cent so far this year with 37 separate price increases across six of Britain’s major supermarket chains since Nov 12, according to analysis of Assosia data by The Grocer.

Farmers have been rocked by the global avian flu pandemic which has forced them to move their birds indoors. Egg-laying hens have also been culled where positive cases have been found.

However, farmers have also been squeezed by rising energy, feed and staffing costs, causing the supply of eggs to drop by 10 per cent, industry analysts said.

Several supermarkets have been forced to ration the number of eggs that customers can buy to ensure there are enough to go around. Tesco, Morrisons and Marks and Spencer were the latest to do so this week. Sainsbury’s began sourcing eggs from Italy earlier this month to try and maintain supplies.

The largest price increase recorded by The Grocer was a 20.1 per cent increase for a pack of 15 own-label Tesco caged eggs, which had risen from £1.49 to £1.79 since Nov 12. On Jan 3, the product had been priced at just £1.18.

The price rises were recorded across nearly two-dozen ranges of eggs from Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Lidl and Aldi. Only Asda did not increase prices during the period from Nov 12.

Waitrose, one of the few supermarkets not to cap purchases, announced on Thursday that it would invest £2.6million in helping its suppliers with rising costs, while Tesco said it would spend £14million on its own supply chain.

“Without our farmers, we can’t function as a business,” said James Bailey, executive director at Waitrose. “We’ve cultivated long-standing relationships with our suppliers and paying our farmers fairly and offering our customers free-range British eggs are commitments that we simply won’t sacrifice, even when the going gets tough.”

The British Free Range Egg Producers Association claimed that the cost of bringing eggs to market had risen by 45p per dozen this year, but that farmers were only being paid between 5p and 10p more by supermarkets.

“Many of our members are losing money on every egg laid and our data shows that even those who are making a small profit do not see a long-term future,” said an association spokesman.

“Our survey of 163 free-range producers this week showed that 33 per cent had either reduced their flock sizes, paused production temporarily or left the industry altogether.”