Egg market in crisis: Easter eggs are said to be more expensive

Easter is just around the corner and with it the time when most (Easter) eggs are traditionally sold. This year, however, the situation on the market is worrying: The domestic egg industry has come under pressure due to inflation, the Upper Austrian Chamber of Agriculture warned at a press conference on Monday.

With 7.5 million laying hens – more than 1.2 million of them in Upper Austria – more laying hens are registered in Austria than ever before. The organic share is 15 percent and thus higher than the EU average, says Gerold Sterrer, chairman of the poultry industry in Upper Austria. However, there are currently too few eggs on the market throughout the EU: the bird flu has led to enormous losses of laying hens in Europe, and many farms have reduced their production or stopped it altogether due to the increased costs. A normalization of the laying hen stocks is not expected until autumn at the earliest.

The processing industry is currently paying historically high prices due to the scarce supply – the supply of shell eggs on the market is therefore decreasing, says Chamber of Agriculture President Franz Waldenberger. In order to secure Austrian egg production in the long term, producers need more money: two cents per egg from conventional husbandry (barn and free-range husbandry) and four cents per organic egg.

With 236 eggs consumed per capita in Austria per year, this would mean additional expenditure of EUR 4.72 or EUR 9.44 for organic eggs. The price increase is necessary so that the producers can bear the increased costs for energy and feed.

Threat to the existence of organic farms

Because organic producers are particularly affected, says Sterrer. Many of them would think about switching to conventional production because organic production could no longer be financed. Due to inflation and rising prices, customers in the food trade are increasingly turning to the cheaper free-range and barn eggs, while the organic products remain on the shelves. “People don’t save on trips or cars, they save on groceries,” says Waldenberger, President of the Chamber of Agriculture. “Our laying hen farmers can only continue to ensure the usual security of supply if we implement the price increase,” he says.

The catering trade is also increasingly ordering cheap eggs from barn farming. The price for organic pullets has more than doubled in recent years, says Sterrer. The point at which the livelihood of the farmers is threatened has already been reached: loans can no longer be serviced. “There will hardly be any new investments in the near future, since egg production is not economical due to high construction costs and rising interest rates on loans,” says the chairman of the poultry industry.

Another factor is bird flu, four cases were reported in Upper Austria – two of them in companies. The protection and surveillance zones ended at the beginning of February, but the stable requirement for keepers with more than 50 animals has remained in place so far. The Chamber of Agriculture expects the obligation to stall around Easter to be lifted if there are no further cases. In any case, it should be lifted before May 1, 2023, says Sterrer. Because then the period of 16 weeks ends, in which free-range eggs could still be stamped as free-range eggs despite the obligation to keep them in a stable. From that date, they would have to be labeled as barn eggs, which would mean further income losses for the farms.

“The system strikes back”

Both Waldenberger and Sterrer see the industry at a crossroads: for years, more organic production, animal welfare and quality would have been required. The companies had been working towards this, but now the consumers no longer want to pay the price for it. “The system is fighting back,” says Waldenberger. In Austria, laying hen husbandry is particularly progressive and goes beyond EU standards, emphasizes the head of the poultry industry, Gerold Sterrer, who is the fourth generation to run a business in the Grieskirchen district.

In Austria there is a ban on cages, beak clipping is voluntarily avoided and modern detectors in the factories ensure maximum safety. Depending on the type of production, poultry farms must expect five to twelve inspection visits per year. This laboriously built form of production is now at risk if prices are not adjusted.