A UK farmer has warned that shoppers could face a shortage of eggs on supermarket shelves for another year.
Supply chain issues over the past year has seen a lack of eggs on store shelves, with supermarkets working hard to minimise impact on customers.
Llyr Jones, who supplies eggs to Tesco, recently said that several factors have led to many UK farmers leaving the industry, such as soaring energy prices, the war in Ukraine and the outbreak of the avian flu.
It comes as UK supermarkets are still imposing limits on the number of egg boxes customers can purchase months after restrictions were first rolled out. Photos this week show one Lidl in Aberdeen with signs limiting shoppers to just two packs each.
The Welsh farmer said his own feed bills rose by £20,000 a month due to the invasion of Ukraine, which is a major producer of corn used for bird feed.
Mr Jones also said the industry was further impacted by supermarkets initially being reluctant to pay farmers for their eggs, which led to many abandoning the industry, while others chose not to restock.
He told the BBC: "A lot of farmers decided not to re-stock and that then put pressure on the market and the price of eggs was forced up.
"Now, this year, egg prices have increased for us as farmers and thankfully our costs have started to fall a bit, so we're having to recuperate the money that we lost last year.
Additionally, Mr Jones claims that getting hens back on farms takes around eight months, while it takes another two before they start producing eggs.
"So, you're nearly a year until a farmer, from when he's empty, to when he can produce eggs. Now egg prices have gone up, some farmers are buying hens in now, but those eggs won't be on the market for another year," he said.
"So, just bear with us for a bit."
However, Mr Jones has said that shoppers could begin to see an increase in white eggs as farmers replace their flocks with white hens, which he said are more productive than brown hens. The change should not see a difference in taste or quality.
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