The Irish Egg Association has warned that the price of eggs is set to increase. Egg prices across the EU, they say, have increased by 40% so far this year. To date the average price in Ireland has gone up by only 5%, but this is set to change very shortly as the impact of the EU wide shortage of eggs hits Ireland.
The Egg Association is blaming increased demand, reduced flock size due to a lack of profitability in the sector, failure to recover feed cost increases and the impact of the EU Welfare of Laying Hens Directive. The new directive came into effect on January 1 2012.
It banned production using traditional cages and introduced the new colony system with significant improvements for the welfare of laying hens. The producers believe egg production has fallen by 10-15% in the European Union since January, as some EU producers exited the market due to lack of profitability.
The Egg Association predicts that prices are set to rise here as a result of pressure from other markets, in particular the shortage of eggs in the UK, which will move to source eggs from other markets, including, it says, from Northern Ireland, an area that was traditionally a source of supply for the Irish market.
