Egg prices have sky-rocketed in the UK, while customers face supply shortages in stores. On top of soaring costs for producers, a devastating bird flu epidemic is also decimating livestock. Several stores have decided to introduce buying limits.

In addition to steep price hikes, the United Kingdom is facing its largest ever bout of bird flu, which is decimating livestock.

This is compounding the country’s already existing egg shortages caused by rising production costs. Due to the war in Ukraine, inflation and sky-high energy prices, chicken feed and packaging costs have soared. Some producers have cut back on output, while others have decided to leave the industry.

Limited supply resulting from the decline in egg production has driven up prices in stores. Depending on the grade of eggs and the distributor, prices rose by 10 to 20 per cent in a few weeks. A price increase of almost 50 percent has been seen since the beginning of the year.

In a bid to avoid short supplies, Tesco, M&S, and Morrisons have also decided to ration how many eggs shoppers can buy. Wetherspoons, a company operating a number of hotels and pubs, was forced to serve hash browns, sausages and onion rings instead of eggs with their breakfast, the Daily Mail reports.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has called for an „urgent inquiry” into the breakdown of the egg supply chain. The advocacy group says the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs should consider whether it needs to take action under the Farm Bill 2020.

Earlier this week, the government said it was monitoring the situation, but stressed that the UK’s food supply chain was „resilient” and that overall no „significant impact” was expected.

In the meantime, individual supermarket chains have announced different levels of support for egg producers.

The Waitrose supermarket chain, for example, is helping producers with a support package worth £2.6 million

„We cannot operate as a business without our farmers,” said James Bailey, chief executive of Waitrose. He added, „We have a long history of long-term relationships with our suppliers, and paying our farmers fairly and offering our customers free-range British eggs are commitments we simply will not compromise, even when the going gets tough.”

Tesco has also announced a multi-million pound support package for its UK egg suppliers and producers. As they said, in addition to the 13.6 million pounds of support provided since March, they will give additional support of 13.9 million pounds until March 2023, and have instated a purchase limit of three boxes of eggs per customer starting this week.