Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket group, is to provide close to £14 million (€16.3 million) of additional support to the country's struggling egg industry.
The UK egg industry is currently in crisis with shortages leading to rationing by major supermarkets including Tesco, Asda and Lidl.
Retailers have blamed the shortages on Britain's largest ever outbreak of avian flu, which has led to some birds being culled, and on an element of panic buying.
However, producers say the main reason is that they are not being paid enough for eggs to take account of soaring feed and energy costs, which has forced some out of the industry, reducing capacity.
Read More: Some British Supermarkets Implement Eggs Rationing As Bird Flu Hits Supply
Financial Support
Tesco said its commitment to provide a further £13.9 million of support until March 2023 takes its total support to £27.5 million (€31.2 million) since March this year.
It said the support will be paid to suppliers to cover the cost of handling, processing and egg production, including any increases in feed for farmers.
"Tesco will continue to work with its suppliers to ensure the additional investment gets passed to farmers as quickly as possible," it said in a statement.
Staff Advances
Last week, Tesco said that it was offering its staff advances on their pay in the latest sign of the distress arising from a worsening cost-of-living crisis.
Under Tesco's new scheme, 280,000 of its workers will be able to receive up to 25% of their contractual pay early if they pay a small fee.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM – your source for the latest fresh produce news. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
