In the autumn of 2024, there will be a supply shortage on the egg market due to bird flu. Millions of laying hens died across Europe; in Austria, 200,000 animals died – just a small fraction of the total 7.3 million laying hens. According to the Poultry Industry Association, the bottleneck in this country can be traced back to other EU countries. There will be sufficient regional eggs in the coming months and at Easter.
On their own, local laying hen companies would supply the entire local market with 90 percent fresh Australian eggs, according to Michael Wurzer of the Poultry Industry Association. Production is also currently running at full speed. But: “We notice that traders who supply the catering industry and have previously traded foreign eggs in Austria are currently having a hard time and can only get very expensive goods from abroad.”
“The local catering industry, which currently has a high demand for eggs due to winter tourism, is also withdrawing significant quantities of local goods from the market, which generally leads to a tight supply situation,” says Wurzer.
Supply assured for the coming months
“The supply is actually very tight, especially when it comes to organic eggs,” says Wurzer. “In general, consumers will always be able to obtain sufficient local eggs in Austrian supermarkets in the coming months.” There is still a lot of time until Easter this year. However, it may happen that individual varieties are sold out at short notice. In addition, the supply capacity of companies in winter tourism regions is more seriously affected due to high demand.
Individual varieties are not available at short notice
At Spar there was “currently a little too little organic and free-range eggs”. In principle, there are enough eggs, so you may have to use a different product. The Rewe Group (Billa, Penny) announced that there are currently “some shortages” in these egg categories and that they want to compensate for these.
“Despite a high degree of self-sufficiency, availability in Austria is currently limited,” said discounter Lidl. “But we are confident that the situation will recover by Easter at the latest.” The larger discount competitor Hofer is seeing an increase in demand for organic eggs. Care planning here takes a maximum of two years. It is therefore hardly possible to respond to peaks in demand in the short term.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
