From the point of view of Slovak producers, the supply is problem-free, there are enough eggs from various types of laying hens of all sizes. Daniel Molnár, director of the Poultry Union of Slovakia (ÚHS), informed about this at a press conference on Thursday.
“Even though we expect a further reduction in the production of edible chicken eggs in 2025. The main reason is the ongoing reconstruction of cage breeding hens for alternative methods of breeding, since in alternative methods of breeding there is a significantly lower production of eggs per hen, as well as a higher annual death of hens,” he explained.
According to him, another reason is the fact that during the first quarter of 2025, egg production was lower in Slovakia due to the resumption of laying hens on the farm in Dvory nad Žitavou after the outbreak of bird flu at the end of 2024.On the contrary, we positively perceive the opening of a completely new farm for 37,000 free-range laying hens near Hlohovec in October 2025. This will be reflected in the growth of egg production in the Slovak Republic, especially in the coming years“, he noted.
“The year 2025 was difficult for breeders from the point of view of health risks in laying hen farms. All breeders apply very strict biosecurity measures all year round, and in the period of increased occurrence of avian flu in the EU, they are even stricter. Thanks to this, outbreaks of bird flu and pseudoplague of poultry were prevented on our farms. During this period, these diseases affected several hundred farms within the EU, and a large incidence was recorded from neighboring countries, especially in Poland, Hungary and Germany. It caused a shortage of eggs during 2025 and caused an increase in egg prices throughout Europe,” said Molnár.
According to him, eggs from cage farms continue to be the most popular among consumers. whose share in total sales during the year 2025 is on average around 65%. The reason is their lower price compared to eggs from other breeding methods. Despite this, foreign business chains have been announcing since 2018 that after 2025 they will not sell any Slovak eggs from cage farms in their establishments in the Slovak Republic.
He pointed out that no pan-European or Slovak legislation has yet been approved that would prohibit the breeding of laying hens in cage systems. “However, this does not change the fact that since 2018, Slovak breeders of laying hens have gradually started the reconstruction of cage farms to alternative ones. They carried out these renovations mainly from their own funds, and only in 2025 were several projects implemented with financial support from EU funds,” added the director of the ÚHS.
