Cost of free range eggs must rise

Free range egg producers are calling for the UK’s major retailers to immediately increase the price of a dozen eggs in their shops by 40p and to pass the increase on to them to avert a catastrophe in the sector.

Producers claim they are being hit from all sides by huge hikes in energy and feed costs, as well as an increase in labour costs and raw materials.A huge number of free range egg farmers are currently losing money on every egg laid by one of their hens, with some saying they will go bust within months - while others are on the brink now.The message has been backed up by the British Egg Industry Council which has today also called for an immediate price rise to save farms.Eggs are one of the cheapest protein sources on the planet, but the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) says farmers have been cut adrift by an unrelenting squeeze on their profit margins which have now been completely eroded in many cases.Farmers are asking for an increase in the price of eggs in the shops, but it is vital that the money makes its way down the supply chain to the farmers who need to save their businesses from collapse claimed BFREPA’s CEO Robert Gooch.

He said that while there had been small rises in the price of eggs in shops, the increase had evaporated before it got to the farm gate.

“It’s the same old story of the farmer at the bottom of the chain being the last to see any price rise.”