CASH-STRAPPED customers are shopping around for their eggs as wholesale prices soar in Dorset following an EU ban on battery hen cages.

Since January 1 all laying hens must be kept in “enriched” cages with extra space to nest, scratch and roost.

In a bid to conform to the new EU welfare standards, egg farmers across Britain have been forced to spend an estimated £400million taking out the old-style battery cages and installing the new “community” cages.

NFU poultry board chairman Charles Bourns has warned that shoppers can expect to pay up to 20 pence more for a dozen eggs in supermarkets in the coming months.

Bill Foot, packaging manager at Sherborne-based Foots Eggs, which supplies eggs to customers across the South West, said: “Egg prices have gone sky-high and they are continuing to climb.

“We don’t know when it is going to end; it is an absolute nightmare and very difficult for our business.

“Prices have doubled in the past 12 months, on the wholesale market.

“Demand is still strong but, because other businesses like shops and cafes are also struggling to make ends meet, everyone is price conscious.”

He added: “We have lost a lot of customers but have also picked up new ones because, these days, people are prepared to shop around for the best possible prices.”

Continental egg prices are also climbing rapidly with French cake-makers complaining of a national shortage of eggs and rocketing prices, following the introduction of the conventional cage ban.