Egg prices have continued to improve but concerns remain on the horizon for egg producers, the British Free Range Egg Producers Association has warned.
In its latest price survey, BFREPA revealed there had been a steady improvement in egg prices reported by its producer members.
As Christmas approached and producers dealt with the worst start to bird flu season since 2022, the wholesale market price had risen past £2 per dozen for medium free-range eggs, and some packers had also increased prices paid to farmers, it reported.
The average farmgate price for brown free-range eggs is now at 155.6 pence per dozen, the survey found, with a quarter of farmers that supply brown eggs receiving prices that “not long ago reflected supermarket shelf-front rather than farm remittance values”.
“Over the course of the last three years, the share of product value returned to the farm has increased markedly,” said the organisation. “In December 2022, Tesco sold 12 large free-range eggs for £2.55, and the producer received on average 91p.”
“Today, the same pack retails for £3.25 but the farmer keeps nearly half of the value,” it added.
Despite this, “the sector continues to face significant challenges and pressures”, according to BFREPA head of producer engagement and strategy Gary Ford.
“Avian influenza remains a fundamental risk to all poultry farms and represents a threat far beyond what any responsible business should reasonably be expected to absorb without adequate insurance support,” he said.
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As well as a rise in egg prices, the organisation reported a general decline in feed price leading to an increase in gross margins.
However, Ford warned that these current margins were yet to address the “many years of undervalued cost of production that left producers operating on unsustainable margins”.
This comes as The Grocer’s analysis of Assosia data revealed that egg prices changed by on average 5.2% in the last year [52 w/e 8 December]. The highest rise was for Hoads Farm Free Range Eggs Large 6 Pack at Morrisons which increased by 31.6%, with 25 lines experiencing increases of over 10%.
This would appear to be impacting volumes and value growth, as shown in The Grocer’s annual Top Products report, published later this week, with the prior up only 2.2% this year, as opposed to 10.1% in 2024, and value growth at 10.8%, compared with 15.3% last year.
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