Supermarkets are blaming bird flu while they "squeeze British farms out of business", a Welsh egg producer has said. Ioan Humphreys, who has 32,000 birds on his farm in Talerdding in Powys said the paltry price he's getting paid for his eggs means he's "going into debt feeding the nation".
Meanwhile, Country Fresh Eggs in Newport, south Wales, is struggling to meet consumer demand as it literally has to wait for the hens to lay eggs every morning before it can deliver them to shelves across Cardiff and Newport. Owner Victoria Shevington-Jones said feed prices had "gone through the roof" and packaging prices are "ridiculous": "People are not restocking their shed because they just can't afford it," she said.
The overall result is a massive shortage of eggs across Wales and the UK. A three million shortfall every single day to be precise. And that shortfall is only set to increase as we head into winter with eight million fewer hens ordered for next year's flocks when compared to last. The supermarkets have even started importing eggs from Italy to meet the gap in supply.
Both Ioan and Victoria have highlighted on social media how there's been a scramble for eggs in lots of supermarkets recently with Asda rationing egg sales to two boxes per customer. But farmers first warned that eggs could vanish from shelves because of rising farm costs back in April this year. Now it's coming home to roost, said Ioan.
"Now we're losing another eight million birds because the supermarkets won't pay us," he said. "They're going to blame the farmers, but we can't afford to. If the supermarkets paid us a fair price for our eggs, then we would stock our sheds and there would be more sheds going up and the UK could be self-sufficient in great British eggs. But the supermarkets won't pay us."
His issue is simple: pay farmers more. Egg producers need somewhere between £1.20-£1.40 to cover their costs producing a dozen eggs, he explained. But supermarkets are currently paying them just £1.07. Costs have shot up in the last year as feed prices and fuel costs rocket. Ioan said chicken feed had gone from £250 per tonne to £400 per tonne while his electricity bill had "trebled, nearly quadrupled". But in that same period, he was receiving no more for his eggs. Inexplicably, eggs are currently 45p more in supermarkets now than circa 12 moths ago. Ioan can't help but wonder where the extra money is going.
Victoria runs an egg packaging business alongside the laying hens and she said one big name she supplied had put a 100% mark-up on her eggs. Taking a pop at the supermarkets, Ioan posted a video on Twitter which racked up more than 100,000 views in less than a week.
He said: “I better get this one out there, before the supermarkets get their story across. The supermarkets have upped their price for you, the consumer, but they haven’t filtered that price increase down to us, the farmers."
His family-run farm has plenty of eggs but they're not making him any money: "We just want a fair price so we're not going into debt feeding the nation," he said. It's estimated that in the current climate, most egg producers are making a loss of around £30 per bird.
Back in April, supermarket chain Sainsbury's said it understood that many egg producers were facing "unprecedented cost challenges throughout their supply chains" and that it was working to make sure they receive "a price that reflects the increasing costs they are facing". But earlier this week, the supermarket chain started selling eggs from Italy. It's a situation that neither Ioan or Victoria can barely understand.
"What's really bugging me the most is the supermarkets are blaming bird flu," Ioan said on Thursday. There have been over 200 cases confirmed across the country since October 2021, the largest ever outbreak the UK has faced. It forced the entire UK flock to be housed indoors over the summer due to restrictions. But Ioan is adamant the current egg shortage "isn’t really due to avian flu".
He said: "It's not due to avian flu, we've all worked that out now. But instead of the supermarkets saying, yes we've messed up, we'll pay farmers a fair price for their eggs...they have now decided to import eggs from Italy. We have the infrastructure in the UK to be producing these eggs in the UK. But because we're not getting paid a fair price to produce these eggs, we're leaving the sheds empty. All the supermarket has to do is pay a fair price to British farmers and the British farmers will produce British eggs. It's not that hard."
He questioned the associated air miles, fuel costs and carbon emissions to get Italian eggs onto British shelves and called it a "power move" rather than an economic one. However, Sainsbury's said it was "committed to sourcing British as much as possible". A spokesman added: "To help maintain availability we are also temporarily sourcing some eggs from Italy, which will be clearly labelled on the packaging."
Victoria has three sheds running at full capacity and Country Fresh eggs are sold in Welsh Tesco stores. You can read her story here. She also explained the current egg situation in a video on Twitter and said: "Farms have lost confidence with rising costs to their business. Many are being forced to to leave their sheds empty because it’s too expensive to keep chickens right now."
On Wednesday morning, at a time she'd usually be busy grading eggs, she's instead sitting in the shed waiting for her hens to lay. "We are literally waiting for the birds to lay them before we can grade to get the vans loaded and the orders out for this evening," she said. "This has never been known before, we've never had to wait for the hens to lay eggs on the day to grade them. That is how short we are."
She said that while bird flu was " a bit of a nightmare" it was a "minor issue compared to the bigger picture". As well as producing eggs from their 40,000 birds laying hens, she has another 20,000 hens on contract from local producers and packs eggs for delivery to a range of customers. Some of the supply and demand is made up from buying eggs from the wholesale market but she can't currently buy eggs "for love nor money".
It means her "supply and demand is all over the place" and she is struggling to meet her contracts. She is critical of the supermarkets and especially Sainsbury's for importing eggs from outside the UK. "What on earth are they thinking," she said. "Where's the buy British and support British farmers message gone?"
Victoria gets a double-whammy set of problems due to wearing a producer hat as well as a packaging hat. Not only does she have to absorb rising feed and fuel costs, she's also seen a huge jump on the cost of egg boxes, delivery costs and wages.
"The bills are scary," she said. "It's just bonkers. Where is it going to end? It seems the world has gone mad. I just don't understand why the supermarkets aren't supporting farmers."
She said she has no idea what the future holds for the egg industry but thinks the answer lies with the supermarkets. "When people see the supermarket shelves are empty they must think, hold on what's going on here," she added.
On Wednesday, the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) called for an urgent meeting with Sainsbury's. Robert Gooch, BFREPA chief executive, said: "We have been warning for months that failing to pay farmers a price which allows them to make a profit would result in mass de-stocking or, worse still, an exodus from the industry. Seeing Italian eggs on the shelves is a wake-up call to all retailers that they can’t expect farmers to work for nothing. Enough is enough.
"I will be writing to Sainsbury’s today to ask for a meeting to discuss how we forge a more sustainable future for egg producers."
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