Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing financial support to egg producers under Section 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020.

The UK egg industry operates in an open market and the value of egg commodities, including the farm gate egg price, is established by those in the supply chain. While the Government may act in exceptional circumstances, we do not set retail food prices nor comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies.

Defra does not believe it would be appropriate to intervene in the market by providing specific financial support to egg producers under Section 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020 at this time. Other agricultural sectors have experienced similar challenges related to rising input costs such as energy, feed and fuel. On energy costs, the government has already provided financial support to the agricultural industry via the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. We have also seen supply chains themselves adjusting to address the challenge of rising input costs.

I hosted an egg industry roundtable on 6 December 2022. This involved the participation of representatives from across the UK egg supply chain. The roundtable focused on the various challenges that the sector is facing. The meeting was productive with a clear willingness from all parties to address issues affecting the supply chain.

We continue to keep the egg sector under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which was set up by Defra and the Devolved Administrations to monitor the UK market across all key agricultural commodities.