Easter in danger: organic eggs become rare-Spar raises the alarm!

Easter in danger: organic eggs become rare-Spar raises the alarm!

In Austria's supermarkets, there are no shortage of eggs shortly before Easter. The Spar food chain warns of possible delivery bottlenecks, especially for organic eggs, and finds that domestic producers cannot fully cover the increasing demand. A notice in a savings branch in Vöcklabruck informed customers about the restrictions in the availability of eggs that are due to challenges in agricultural production. SPAR also explained that there will continue to be enough eggs, but sales situations could occur at short notice. This reports Kosmo .

The main reason for the bottlenecks lies in the spread of bird flu, which has led to a decline in the available eggs since October both in Germany and in Europe. Since then, four poultry farms have had to close with around 200,000 hens in Austria, which further tightened the already tense situation. The stable obligation for poultry holders with more than 50 animals in 25 districts also contributes to scarcity. Kurier emphasizes that the increased demand by the catering also tightens the situation.

growing need and reduced imports

The demand for organic and free-range eggs has risen sharply in the past few months, which leads to a shortage of supermarket shelves. Especially in the afternoon, the shelves are often sparse, while organic eggs are sold out very quickly. In order to stabilize the situation, the companies are building up inventory for Easter, but this could continue to cut the offer. The normalization of the supply situation is only expected until Easter, as a representative of Lidl explained.

Austrian food producers react to the high demand of gastronomy and consumers by increasingly buying domestic organic and outdoor eggs. According to Agricultural Marketing Austria (AMA), however, relaxation of the supply situation is only expected at the end of the month. Martin Gressl from AMA speaks of an overall "good supply situation", which is challenged by the exceptionally high demand.

The current situation at a glance

• In Austria there are about 7.3 million officially registered laying hens:
  • 4.1 million in the grounds of
  • 2.2 million in free range
  • 953,000 in organic posture
• Almost 50% of the eggs sold in the food trade come from soil husbandry, 37% from conventional free-range, and 12% from organic-certified free range.
• cage keeping of laying hens is prohibited in Austria.
• The average egg consumption per household is 5.70 euros per month, which includes annual consumption of 248 eggs per person, also in processed products.

In addition to bird flu, the inflation of the bottleneck situation also contributes to the inflation. Many customers try to fill up their supplies, which further increases demand. The forecasts indicate that the situation will only be stabilized by Easter, which is a challenging situation for many consumers and restaurants, as also reports orf . Apart from the effects of bird flu, the focus is on a sustainable food production of relevance, which, due to developments in recent times, is more than ever in the foreground.