Egg Shortage Due to Bird Flu? Here's the Current Situation
Millions of laying hens died across Europe, in Austria according to the poultry industry with 200,000 a small part of a total of 7.3 million laying hens. Therefore, the egg shortage in this country is mainly due to those in other EU countries, according to Michael Wurzer from the Poultry Industry Association. However, there will be enough domestic eggs in the coming months and for Easter.
As a matter of fact, domestic laying hen farms would supply the local total market with 90 percent Austro-fresh eggs, says Wurzer. Even now, full production is being maintained. However: "We notice that traders who supply the gastronomy and have so far traded foreign eggs in Austria can currently only obtain very expensive goods from abroad, if at all," Wurzer explained to the APA. "The domestic gastronomy, which currently has a high demand for eggs due to winter tourism, therefore additionally withdraws significant quantities of domestic goods from the market, which overall leads to a tight supply situation."
Egg Shortage: Some Varieties Temporarily Unavailable
"Especially with organic eggs, the supply is actually very tight," says Wurzer. "In general, however, consumers in Austrian food retail will always be able to obtain sufficient domestic eggs in the coming months." There is still plenty of time until Easter this year. However, it is possible that individual varieties are temporarily sold out. In addition, the delivery capability of companies in winter tourism regions is more severely affected due to the high demand.
At Spar, there was talk of "currently slightly too few organic and free-range eggs". In principle, however, there are enough eggs, maybe one has to switch to another product once. The Rewe Group (Billa, Penny) stated on APA request that there are currently "occasional shortages" in these egg categories and they want to compensate for this.
"Despite a high level of self-sufficiency, availability in Austria is currently actually limited," said the discounter Lidl. "But we are confident that the situation will recover by Easter at the latest." At the larger discounter competitor Hofer, there is an increased demand for organic eggs. The supply planning here lasts up to two years. Therefore, "it is hardly possible to react to peaks in demand at short notice. Temporary shortages cannot therefore be ruled out in exceptional cases."
Reference to Quality from Austria
Poultry farmer Wurzer once again emphasized that in Austria "work is being done according to the EU-wide strictest and best animal welfare regulations". Since the exit from cage keeping in 2009, there have been "unparalleled high achievements in the interest of animals and the environment".
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.