The Price of an Egg

2 days ago
2 min read

Updated: 3 hours ago

The egg feels like one of the few things you can still rely on. It’s cheap, filling, and always there when you need it. That is exactly why it matters.

Eggs are also one of the most straightforward sources of nourishment we have. They are full of protein, around 6 grams per egg, and give us essential nutrients like vitamin B12, iron, and selenium. For families, food banks and breakfast clubs alike, the egg is a reliable building block of a decent meal.

The problem with eggs, as recent headlines have shown, is not scarcity. It is that those producing them are being squeezed to keep them affordable.

Farmers face feed prices that have risen by over 50% in recent years. Energy bills are up around 40%, and did you know that bird flu remains a constant risk? In January 2026, Scotland's largest egg supplier, Glenrath Farms, which produces more than a million eggs a day, was hit by a second bird flu outbreak. The farm had to cull 200,000 birds. Weeks later, a third outbreak struck the same site. But the price farmers are paid has not kept up.

When shop prices for eggs rose by about 45p per dozen, farmers received only 5p to 10p of that increase.

Shoppers see stability on the shelf while farmers carry the pressure.

This gap between what it costs to produce eggs and what we are willing to pay is where the real issue is. We say we want free-range eggs and we want British produce. Independent data shows typical free-range farms losing more than £300,000 per flock.

The British Free Range Egg Producers Association has warned that more than 70% of producers would leave egg production within a year if prices do not rise. Farmers are calling for at least 40p per dozen to keep the sector viable.

If farmers are driven out of business, supply falls, prices rise, an d imports fill the void. But imported food comes at a cost, for once production is outsourced, so too is our control. Welfare, sustainability and fairness become are no longer guarantees.

The point is about fairness by making sure the cost of doing things properly is not pushed onto the people with the least room to absorb it — the producers.

The egg is a simple food, and perhaps that is why its lesson is so easy to miss. We often

notice value only when it disappears.