Supermarket shoppers are being warned to "buy big" if they want to avoid huge price hikes on eggs amid a national shortage.
Experts from price intelligence company Skuuudle have shared new data which tracks the rising cost of eggs over the past five months. They analysed 120 products sold across the seven major supermarkets over a five month period up until December 5, 2022.
The study found a box of six medium eggs has risen by 14% while the same number of very large eggs has risen by just 5%.
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With fresh food price inflation rising to 14.3% for the 12 months until November 2022, the price of a box of six medium eggs has risen by this figure in just the last five months. Avian flu has disrupted the supply chain of some egg ranges, tightening the supply of the most popular products and pushing the price up of sizes most in demand.
But savvy consumers can find better value on the shelves if they buy a box of six very large eggs rather than smaller sizes. The data revealed that less popular egg products including the very large size and larger quantities of eggs rose by between five and seven percent whereas the more popular boxes of six large or medium rose by higher percentages.
A Skuuudle spokesman told the ECHO : "Egg shortages have been in the news recently with some supermarkets going as far as rationing the number individual customers can take home. These have largely been driven by supply chain issues which have also had an impact on the prices supermarkets are paying to their suppliers.
"What is interesting is how supermarkets are choosing to pass these increased costs onto ordinary consumers. Our data reveals that it’s the prices of the high volume products which are rising at the highest rate while variants such as very large eggs, are in effect becoming cheaper compared to medium-sized ones.
"By choosing very large eggs shoppers can avoid some of the price hike although as the cost of very large eggs is higher than medium anyway it may not feel like they are getting a bargain."
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