Last year, an agreement was reached between the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture and egg producers to ban the keeping of caged hens in Estonia by 2035.

Approximately 80 percent of Estonia's egg-laying hens are housed in cages. Data from Statistics Estonia shows that nearly 580,000 laying hens were kept in Estonia in 2024, collectively producing more than 188 million eggs.

However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications has said a ban on keeping caged hens in Estonia alone would not be fair to our producers if Latvia and Lithuania did not have similar bans at the same time.

Dava Foods, one of Estonia's largest egg producers, has signed the pledge. Company boss Allan Tohver agrees the decision is reasonable, but also agrees with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.

"If we look at shopping basket comparisons from the past six months, the cheapest eggs in Estonia are cage eggs. Most of them are from Latvia and Lithuania, so if we introduce a ban, we are simply playing into the hands of egg producers in neighboring countries," he told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

The company has already made some improvements.

"Over the past two years, we have invested €3.5 million in barn hens, and currently 25 percent of our production is eggs from barn hens. We have set 2035 as our goal; by then, we will try to completely phase out cages," Tohver added.

In the meantime, caged eggs are still popular with customers – especially those from domestic producers.

Selver supermarket's communications manager Mariann Järvela said 88 percent of the eggs sold by the company are of Estonian origin.

"12 [percent] come from Latvia, and quail eggs are 100 percent of Estonian origin. When we talk about consumer preferences, the most popular is the OMA-brand egg, which is of Estonian origin. Above all, people want to buy Estonian eggs, and the next criterion is price."

Järvela added that 15 percent of customers currently buy organic or free-range eggs.

"Cage eggs are bought the most, but sales of barn eggs have currently increased the most, at the expense of cage eggs," Järvela said.

Shoppers said price plays a major role, but it is not the only factor.

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