Average egg prices in Europe have reached €268.48 per 100kg, up 3.5% on last week, 11.2% on last month's price and 17.3% on the price this time last year, according to the European Commission in a new market report published on March 12.

These figures are based on the average price of class A eggs in packing stations, supplied by weekly EU member state data correspondence, as required by the Commission Implementing Regulation 2017.

According to the 'EU Eggs Market Dashboard', highest prices were garnered for organic production, followed by free-range, barn, and cage production.

For international comparison, the report revealed that the average price of eggs was €1,020.33/100kg in the US, €187.67/100kg in Brazil, and €74.12/100kg in India.

The report documented that the total laying hen population in Europe was 387.4 million in 2023, 151.8 million (39.2%) of which were classified as caged, 150.7 million as barn (38.9%), 58.7 million (15.1%) as free range, and 26.4 million (6.8%) as organic hens.

France was reported to be the most prolific producer in the EU bloc in 2023, producing 981 ,000t of eggs (14% of the EU total), closely followed by Denmark with 958,000t, Spain with 914,000t and Italy with 798,000t.

According to the report, Ireland had a total of 3,815,296 laying hens in 2023, representing just 1% of the EU total.

However, 48.4% of these were classed as free range layers, making Ireland the EU member state with the highest percentage of free range hens proportionate to the total hen population in the country.

In comparison, just 4.4% of Irish hens were classed as organic in the report.

6,788,000t of eggs were produced in total in the EU in 2023, which is an increase of 0.7% compared with 2022's figures, the report showed..

The report revealed that the EU exported 334,000t of eggs in the period between January to November 2024, which is an increase on the 301,000t of eggs exported in January to November 2023.

The UK was the primary destination for these imports, importing 137,147t worth of EU eggs in 2024, up 6% from the figure imported in 2023, followed by Japan with 55,903t, Switzerland with 40,733t and Thailand, who imported 52% more EU eggs in 2024 (10,774t in total) than it did in 2023.

In comparison, the EU imported 110,864t of eggs in the period between January to November 2024, representing a 31.8% increase from the same period in 2023, the report found.

Ukraine was deemed the largest source of these imports during this period, with 68,037t of eggs (up 34.5% on 2023), followed by the United Kingdom with 15,910t (up 39.9%), Argentina with 4,417t (up 48.2%), and North Macedonia with 3,615 of eggs (up 99.7%).