agriculture
Are the eggs scarce for Easter?
Seven weeks until Easter – and fewer eggs are produced than in demand. This is due to the bird flu, among other things. So how full are the Easter nests this year? And how expensive?
Red, yellow or green – colorful eggs not only encounter enthusiasm for Easter. Hundreds of million are sold or colored every year. Also this year? “Eggs are currently scarce,” said the President of the Federal Association of Ei, Hans-Peter Goldnick. “But we will have enough eggs at Easter.” However, individual bottlenecks are conceivable, for example in some sorting. “One would like to organize organic, the other would like to know, the next one would like to big.”
But why is the bottleneck? “Supply and demand do not fit one hundred percent on the market at the moment,” explains Goldnick. There are several reasons for this: For example, because of the bird flu, laying hen stocks were repeatedly culled, including in northern Germany.
According to the State Farmers’ Association of Baden-Württemberg, it takes about seven to eight months before new hens have grown up, which can fill this gap. “It is quite normal for the production capacities to be dropped over the turn of the year after a peak,” said Vice President Jürgen Maurer. During this time, herds are exchanged – that is, older hens are equipped and young animals are bought. “So the actual season termination is currently on unable to plan events such as the outbreak of the poultry plague.”
Germany imports eggs
This situation is reinforced by bird flu cases around the world – for example Italy and the USA. According to Goldnick, there is also an environmentally motivated breakdown of the chicken stock in the Netherlands. This is noticeable on the German market: Because Germany cannot completely supply itself with eggs. Only around 73 percent of the eggs used in the Republic were also produced in this country in 2023. The rest is imported. This is shown by data from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
Furthermore, lower production meets high demand: “Eggs have changed their image,” said Goldnick. Many people would have rediscovered eggs as a source of animal protein with a comparatively good CO₂ balance. According to the farmers’ association, the nationwide per capita consumption 2024 was 244 eggs-an increase of eight eggs compared to the previous year.
Prices at the wholesale market at all -time high
“The sum of these factors means that we are currently under -supplied,” said Goldnick. Usually that is not a big problem. But before Easter, for example, the dyes bought large quantities of eggs.
The consequence of the mixture: the wholesale prices for eggs are increasing. Free market prices had reached an all-time high, it recently said in a report by the German egg Union. Eggs in wholesale are now more expensive than in the supermarket. For example, 17.63 euros were due for 100 white eggs – weight class M and the lowest form of husbandry.
However, the price high should not arrive at the customers of discounters and supermarkets so quickly. Conditions such as in the United States were also not at risk, Goldnick said. There are usually one-year contracts between dealers and egg producers that are normally concluded in August. In most cases, price increases are possible at the earliest in autumn. “These spontaneous price increases on the spot market do not arrive at the end consumer. And if so, then only completely isolated.”
Farmers’ association: buy eggs early
The state farmers’ association recommends buying the eggs for Easter at an early stage. “Because short -term bottlenecks can always occur on the shelves.” Accordingly, eggs last for several weeks if they are stored correctly, so that they can get them one to two weeks before the festival.
dpa
Source: Stern
