They were once considered the food of the poor, very nutritious but cheap. Then they were banned from the table, because they were considered among the causes of cholesterol and therefore enemies of health. Finally, here they are once again protagonists on supermarket shelves as a strategic protein choice for families. It is a life of ups and downs, that of eggs, subject to the fashions of the moment and with their destiny linked to scientific research which over time contradicts and corrects one another.
At the moment they are back in vogue and the high demand – in addition to the difficulty of our producers in meeting needs – is pushing prices through the roof. The phenomenon is also European, so much so that we talk about eggflation given that price lists have increased much faster than overall inflation.
While the cost of living in the EU stood at 2.3% in December 2025, egg prices increased by 9.3%, according to the latest available data from Eurostat, and growth in one year even reached 18.4%. Spain recorded the highest egg inflation at 31.3%, followed by Portugal (20.9). Italy (8.4 percent) approached the EU average. An unstoppable race.
In February, in the Union, wholesale prices increased by 18.4% compared to the same month in 2025. In our country a pack of six basic eggs, which in December 2024 cost 1.18 euros, reached 1.99 euros in 14 months. A leap of 68% that has no equal in almost any other product sector. The data comes from the Price and Tariff Observatory of the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy (Mimit) and stops at December 2025, but just go to any supermarket to verify that the price has risen further for six-packs.
The Single National Commission (Cun), i.e. the “Egg Exchange”, provides other interesting data: those from free-range farming have recorded an increase of around 27% compared to the levels at the beginning of 2025, while those from cage farming have seen an increase of around 23%.
Last February, the wholesale cost of the latter product reached 2.38 euros per kilo, 13% more than February 2025 and +43% on February 2024. The prices instead of those from free-range farming, which represent 70% of the total, recorded a +15% on February 2025 and +45% compared to February 2024.
There is a mix of factors at the origin of these increases. First of all, “the growing search by consumers for proteins with high biological value at affordable costs” explains the president of Cia-Agricoltori Italiani, Cristiano Fini, “but also a penalizing factor for the supply chain and especially for farmers, namely the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza which has significantly reduced national production capacity”. According to Unaitalia, a trade association for the meat and egg supply chains, consumption grew by 7% in 2025. The product remains a cheaper source of noble proteins than animal alternatives, becoming a primary choice for those trying to save money due to inflation.
The economic crisis has changed the shopping cart by giving priority to some foods. And so we went from a per capita consumption of 210-215 eggs per year in 2015-2019 to 230 in 2022-2023. The first leap occurred with the pandemic, when people forced to spend more time at home cooked more. Everyone remembers the videos on social media with families around the table preparing desserts and rolling out fresh pasta. In those years, 2020-2021, the threshold of 220 eggs was exceeded.
Even though there has been an increase in prices, purchases have continued to grow because the product is still cheaper than other protein foods. In addition to domestic consumption, demand is driven by the food industry (pasta, sweets, ready-to-eat products) which makes massive use of it. There is a problem, however. Production cannot keep up due to a number of critical factors. The main one is the recurring avian influenza epidemic, which has affected all of Europe and North America, and has led to the slaughter of millions of laying hens, with a drastic reduction in global production capacity.
Last year, 699 avian influenza outbreaks were recorded in the Old Continent, more than double the 259 in 2024 and the 476 in 2023.
In Italy, 60 infection centers have been identified which in 2025 led to the suppression of approximately 1.2 million hens. Although our country has managed to limit health damage compared to other European partners, consumer costs have suffered the same sharp increases that have overwhelmed the entire Union market.
But the problem is not just European. The whole world is facing so-called “egg shock”. In the United States, bird flu has caused such a significant reduction in production that consumers are replacing traditional colored Easter eggs with creative alternatives. Japan is experiencing similar supply shortages and price spikes. The situation is further complicated by the energy squeeze linked to the conflict in Iran and the blockade of transport in the Hormuz canal, which has increased the costs of diesel and energy.
These increases weigh on the feed and livestock supply chain and are fueling an inflationary spiral that overwhelms many foods, from meat to animal derivatives, to milk and eggs.
Finally, another important factor is the adaptation to the new regulations on animal welfare with the transition from cage farming systems to those on the ground or in the open air. A transition that requires huge investments and technical times that do not favor an increase in production. Furthermore, despite the unit price, the egg and poultry sector is one of the flagships of our zootechnics, as Confagricoltura reminds us: production exceeds 12.2 billion eggs and is worth approximately one billion euros for the agricultural part alone, while the turnover from sales for processing and transformation of the finished product adds 1.5 billion euros to the turnover of the sector.
A short circuit has thus been created between an increase in demand and an offer that is unable to satisfy it. The result is that the country’s degree of self-sufficiency has fallen from 97 percent in 2024 to 94 percent in 2025 and imports have increased: between January and November 2025 by 28%, in a European market already under pressure which last year saw purchases from abroad increase by 61% compared to 2024.
To overcome this critical phase, the president of CIA asks to «accelerate the procedures for disbursement of compensation intended for producers affected by indirect damage who have had to face prolonged production stops and imposing biosecurity costs».
Then he turns the spotlight on another theme: «Despite the added value of the product lies in the production and zootechnical care phase, large-scale distribution maintains significant margins compared to production prices». Behind a fried egg there is a turnover that cannot be overlooked.
