Output of shell eggs through packing stations in the UK has now climbed to a new record after the setbacks suffered by the industry during 2022/23.
Average throughput per week has now topped 19 million dozen for the first time during the third quarter, according to the latest figures from Defra.
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It represents an increase of 1.4 m doz/week compared with the same quarter of last year, a rise of eight per cent. Since the beginning of last year, the overall rise is greater, at 1.7 m doz/week.
All of this increase since the start of last year has been accounted for by the non-cage sector, including barn, as the retail industry gears up to remove caged eggs from its shelves in 2025.
Total non-cage output averaged 15.18 m doz/week in the third quarter, compared with 13.72 m doz/week at the start of last year.
Packing station throughput
Over that period, there has been no corresponding decline in caged egg production, which has steadied at around 4 m doz/week.
Packing station throughput in the UK is now made up of 79% non-cage, with 21% in colony cages.
Due to the confusion to the figures caused by avian influenza, resulting in the enforced housing of birds through two successive winters, it is not possible to meaningfully chart the evolution of the free range and barn sectors individually over the last couple of years.
Barn sector
However, it is worth noting that the size of the barn egg sector itself in the latest quarter, when no restrictions were in place, was the same as the third quarter of 2023, at 1.27 m doz/week; so no expansion has taken place there over the past year in readiness for 2025.
That puts barn eggs currently at just 6.6% of the market, and free range (including organic) at 72.6%.
That doesn’t rule out the likelihood of some rapid conversions of colony units to barn production as 2025 gets underway.
The pace of change will depend on how the retailers respond to the demands of their customers, in the context of a continuing cost-of-living crisis.
