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

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to make an "exceptional market conditions" direction under the Agriculture Act 2020, given the disruption being experienced by egg producers and consumers.

Defra has no plans to recommend that a declaration of exceptional market conditions be made for the egg sector under Section 20 of the Agriculture Act 2020. Other sectors have experienced similar problems and supply chains have themselves adjusted to address the challenges related to rising input costs, which the egg sector has started to do.

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 including farmers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. While government may act in exceptional circumstances, we do not set retail food prices nor comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies. In the event of exceptional circumstances, the Government has powers in the Agriculture Act 2020 to act to support farmers.

The Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries hosted a roundtable on 6 December 2022 which brought together representatives from across the UK egg supply chain to discuss the challenges the egg industry is facing. The meeting was productive and conducted in a constructive manner with a clear willingness from all parties to address issues affecting the supply chain.

We are keeping the egg situation 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 situation across all key agricultural commodities.