UK Egg Prices Jump 80% to £1.80 as Milk and Bread Costs Also Climb
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · May 24
UK Egg Prices Jump 80% to £1.80 as Milk and Bread Costs Also Climb
5 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 24
A box of six supermarket own-brand free-range eggs now averages £1.80, up from £1 in 2022; four pints of semi-skimmed milk rose to £1.65 from £1.29, and a basic white loaf to 74p from 65p.
Avian flu drove the sharpest jump in eggs after millions of hens were culled between 2021 and 2023, while Russia's invasion of Ukraine lifted grain and energy costs and Middle East tensions have renewed supply fears.
Producer costs are still rising faster than selling prices: UK input prices climbed 7.7% in the year to April, the biggest increase in more than three years, while factory-gate prices rose 4%.
Milk price inflation has eased because of global oversupply, but dairy farmers are being paid 25% less per litre and many are loss-making as fixed supermarket contracts limit how quickly higher costs can be passed on.
Supermarket sales rose to about £160 billion in 2024 from £130 billion in 2020, but profit margins have not increased over 20 years, and the CMA said in 2024 it found no evidence grocers artificially inflated prices.
As food prices soar for shoppers, why are many British farmers facing financial ruin?
From Ukraine to Iran, global conflicts keep hiking food prices. Is this the new normal for UK shoppers?