Eggs in the major supermarkets are cheaper than they have been in a long time, with a carton of six now available for as little as 50p - the cheapest they have been for at least three years.
Asda cut the price of its Smartprice budget caged eggs from 80p to 50p in February, after Morrisons slashed its cheapest M Savers eggs to 52p, data from pricing specialists Brand View shows.
Morrisons has since put its price back up to 70p, but the Asda eggs remain at 50p, beating Lidl’s cheapest half-dozen (55p) as well as Aldi’s (65p).
This is the lowest price for a six-pack of eggs in one of the major mults for at least three years, Brand View’s data suggests, working out at 8.3p per egg. Tesco and Sainsbury’s are selling their cheapest eggs for 70p for a half dozen.
Eggs are one of grocery’s biggest success stories of recent years, with sales booming as consumers finally leave old concerns about cholesterol and salmonella behind. Earlier this year, figures from the British Egg Industry Council showed consumers ate 275 million more eggs in 2015 than in 2014 - growth of 5% and the fastest growth rate for more than 60 years [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 3 January 2016].
This increase has been driven partly by the continued boom in home baking as well as growing interest in high-protein diets, which has seen more consumers embrace eggs as an affordable, on-the-go protein snack.
BEIC chairman Andrew Joret says eggs are now seen by shoppers as a “healthy, nutrition packed and versatile food”, and a recent Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food report, which concluded British Lion eggs can safely be eaten runny, “is expected to boost the popularity of eggs still further”.
Eggs’ low price point in comparison to other proteins has also been a key factor in boosting growth, with shoppers able to buy six eggs for well below the £1 mark across retailers.
Other than cuts to the cheapest eggs, recent key reductions on six-packs include Tesco cutting the price of six medium free-range eggs from £1 to 89p, with six organic eggs down from £2 to £1.80, while Sainsbury’s cut six large free-range eggs from £1.65 to £1.40. On the branded side, six Big & Fresh caged eggs are down from £1.46 to £1 in Asda and Morrisons, while a six-pack of Happy Eggs is down from £2 to £1.87 in Morrisons.
Packs of a dozen eggs have also seen prices fall, with average prices across all pack sizes and welfare tiers in the major mults and the discounters down 3% year on year. Standout reductions include Sainsbury’s 12-pack of large free-range eggs, down from £2.75 to £2.40.
Across all pack sizes and welfare tiers, however, egg prices have remained largely static over the past year, coming in at an average of £1.85 per product across all retailers.
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