Food Industry

Tuesday, 3 March 2026

Questions (706, 708, 709, 710)

Conor D. McGuinness

Question:

706. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware of any egg shortages in supermarkets in Waterford or nationally. [17112/26]

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708. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount by which input costs for egg producers have risen in the past five years, in tabular form. [17114/26]

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Conor D. McGuinness

Question:

709. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average increase in farm-gate returns for egg producers in the past five years, in tabular form. [17115/26]

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Conor D. McGuinness

Question:

710. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average increase in egg prices on supermarket shelves in the past five years, in tabular form. [17116/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I propose to take Questions Nos. 706, 708, 709 and 710 together.

The table egg (hen eggs for human consumption) sector in Ireland is relatively small in comparison to our EU counterparts. Nevertheless, Irish table egg production has been increasing over the last number of years, with a 10% increase in the overall total tonnage of eggs produced in 2025 (circa 64,000 tonnes) compared to 2024 (circa 59,000 tonnes).

Poultry enterprises are not captured in the Teagasc National Farm Survey, therefore farm gate value on egg producers is not available. Teagasc is currently exploring setting up a system, in collaboration with egg producers and wider stakeholders, to estimate economic performance of egg producers.

Teagasc estimate that poultry feed represents approximately 70% of the input costs of egg producers. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) produces the Agricultural Price Index which monitors trends in prices paid by farmers for purchases of goods and services. The following table sets out the costs of poultry feed for the period 2020 to 2025:

	Year	Index
Feedingstuff for Poultry	2020	100.0
	2021	106.3
	2022	132.6
	2023	145.0
	2024	126.2
	2025	120.2
Source: CSO - Agricultural Input Price Index		Base=2020

In general, poultry feed prices in 2025 were 20% higher than in 2020 but prices experienced significant volatility during that period.

My Department does not capture data on egg prices on supermarket shelves, However, the CSO as part of their monthly Consumer Price Index reporting publish data on egg prices.

The below table shows the average yearly price for six large eggs and six medium eggs for the last five calendar years. This is the 12-month average of the monthly national average price reported by the CSO as part of the monthly Consumer Price Index release ([https://data.cso.ie/table/CPM12]).

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
	€	€	€	€	€
Large eggs per half dozen	1.78	1.92	2.21	2.23	2.28
Medium eggs per half dozen	1.38	1.54	1.77	1.78	1.83

Since 2021, the annual average price for six large eggs has increased by 28%. The annual average price for six medium eggs has increased by 32% in the same period.

The CSO egg price index shows that, on average, hen egg producers received 38% more for their eggs in 2024 compared to 2020.

My Department monitors the production of eggs at egg producer level and does not monitor supply at retail level. Nevertheless, I am not aware of any shortages of eggs in supermarkets in Waterford or nationally.