Supply shortage and back-to-school demand double egg prices

Egg prices have nearly doubled over the past two weeks, driven by supply shortages and the exit of some breeders and producers, alongside surging seasonal demand as the school year begins, two industry sources told Al Manassa.

Egg trays previously sold for 60 to 70 Egyptian pounds ($1.17 to $1.36), levels that failed to cover production costs and forced several breeders out of the market, Abdel Aziz El-Sayed, head of the poultry division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Al Manassa. As a result, prices have jumped to between 130 and 135 pounds ($2.53 to $2.62).

On the ground, Giza retail trader Ahmed El-Sayed highlighted the rapid shift in consumer activity. “Eggs were plentiful and cheap a few days ago, and no one was buying them, and now they have gotten expensive and everyone is talking about them,” he said. He added that even special promotional offers of 70 pounds ($1.36) a tray failed to attract buyers until back-to-school demand forced consumers to buy regardless of rising costs.

Earlier market declines were influenced by rumors of salmonella contamination and the growing popularity of the Al-Tayyibat diet, which advises against eating eggs, driving producers to seek export markets to mitigate losses. 

However, Abdel Aziz El-Sayed emphasized that exports were not the primary driver of current shortages, pointing instead to the exit of breeders seeking to compensate for previous losses. “The sharp decline in prices during previous periods caused breeders to incur losses that pushed some of them to reduce production,” he explained.

Echoing those concerns, Ahmed Nabil, head of the table eggs division at the Poultry Producers Federation, told Al Manassa that some producers recently postponed production cycles due to falling egg prices and surging production costs linked to the exchange rate, ultimately leading to the supply shortage.

The current price surge contrasts with figures from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics released on September 10, which reported that overall food and beverage prices fell 1.2% month-on-month in August, driven by a 1.5% drop in meat and poultry prices and a 7% decline in vegetables. 

That drop helped pull annual inflation down to 12.7% in August from 13% in July, as sluggish demand for poultry and eggs capped price increases despite higher feed costs.