THE drought, winter and an exodus from the poultry industry have caused the price of eggs to soar by 50 per cent this year.

South Australia and Queensland have been hardest hit, with the price of a carton of eggs on supermarket shelves rising by as much as 60c to more than $3, while Western Australian has been relatively unaffected.

Australian Egg Industry Association president Jeff Ironside said yesterday the deregulation of the poultry industry since the 1980s had led to so much over-production that by Christmas last year some growers were selling their eggs at below cost and were forced out of the industry. Production is now at near-record lows.

“This is likely to cause immediate shortages of certain sizes and brands of eggs on supermarket shelves, and an end to the long-term trend of low egg prices and egg-price discounting,” he said.

The chief executive of egg marketing company Nova Foods, Murray Wilson, said the average price increase was about 30c a dozen, but it could be as high as 60c in some areas.

Mr Wilson said the high prices would continue until 2004.

Mr Ironside said producers had to decide whether they would stay in the industry. “The entire industry is undergoing a major restructure as a result of mandatory changes to layer-hen cage sizes, which will impose massive capital costs.”

There are about 11 million laying hens in Australia. Half are in NSW, 3 million are in Victoria, and 2.5 million are in Queensland.