Supply secured

Sufficient domestic eggs despite bird flu shortage

(Bild: Gerhard Kampitsch)

There is a supply shortage on the egg market due to bird flu in the fall of 2024. Millions of laying hens died across Europe, with 200,000 animals dying in Austria - only a small proportion of a total of 7.3 million laying hens. According to the poultry industry association, the shortage in this country is due to other EU countries. However, there will be enough domestic eggs in the coming months and at Easter.

According to Michael Wurzer from the Poultry Industry Association, domestic laying hen farms would supply the local market as a whole with 90 percent Austrian fresh eggs. They are also currently producing at full capacity. However: "We are noticing that traders who supply the food service industry and have previously traded in foreign eggs in Austria are currently finding it difficult to obtain goods from abroad, and if at all, only at very high prices."

"The domestic food service industry, which currently has a high demand for eggs due to winter tourism, is therefore also withdrawing significant quantities of domestic goods from the market, which is leading to a tight supply situation overall," says Wurzer.

Supply secured for the coming months
"The supply of organic eggs in particular is actually very tight," says Wurzer. "In general, however, consumers will always be able to obtain sufficient domestic eggs from Austrian food retailers in the coming months." There is also still plenty of time until Easter this year. However, individual varieties may sell out at short notice. In addition, the supply capacity of farms in winter tourism regions is more affected due to the high demand.

Individual varieties not available in the short term
At Spar, there was talk of "a slight shortage of organic and free-range eggs at the moment". In principle, however, there are enough eggs, but it may be necessary to switch to a different product. The Rewe Group (Billa, Penny) stated that there are currently "occasional bottlenecks" in these egg categories and that they want to compensate for them.

"Despite a high level of self-supply, availability in Austria is currently indeed limited", said the discounter Lidl. "However, we are confident that the situation will recover by Easter at the latest." The larger discounter competitor Hofer is seeing increased demand for organic eggs. Supply planning takes up to two years here. It is therefore hardly possible to react to peaks in demand at short notice.