Key Points
- Australia is experiencing an egg shortage.
- Here's what you need to know.
If you've noticed empty supermarket shelves, changes in local food menus or an increase in the price of your favourite poached eggs, you're not alone.
Australia is in the middle of an egg shortage, with a variety of factors to blame. Here's what you need to know.
What is happening?
Across Australia, eggs are the latest item to be hit with supply chain issues, following on from shortages in lettuce and chicken and, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, toilet paper.
The supply challenges appear to be market-wide, with all major retailers impacted in some regions.
Some have introduced buying limits, while others have increased prices. In some stores, shelves are completely bare.
When it comes to dining out, many hospitality businesses are either modifying menus or increasing prices for egg-based items, said Wes Lambert, director on the Australian Foodservice Advocacy Body.
“When there are disruptions in the supply chain or increased costs in supply chain, there really is just a handful of things that you can do as a business,” he said.
"If you can get a hold of the supply, it's typically increased prices that you will need to pass on to your customers if you're able to, or you can sometimes change for an alternative product or ingredient.
"But it's hard to have poached eggs on toast or scrambled eggs on toast if you don't have eggs."
Why is there a shortage?
Numerous factors are contributing to the shortage, but essentially it is a case of demand outstripping supply.
According to Egg Farmers of Australia, in recent years the industry has been impacted by a range of issues including bushfires, floods, droughts, a mice plague, COVID-19 impacts and increased production costs.
Mr Lambert said there were four main contributing factors, adding: "We have a war in Europe affecting the supply chain, we have the weather in Australia and around the world, we have the increase of input costs which are far and wide across many industries, and finally, we have a severe workforce shortage in Australia.
"The combination of all of those things has led to the perfect storm and drastically increased costs that diners are definitely seeing on the menus.
How will it impact me?
For consumers, the impacts of the egg shortage are being felt in both access and price.
Some supermarkets, such as Coles Group, have brought in product limits of two packs per customer.
Some supermarkets, such as Coles Group, have implemented a limit into the number of eggs customers can purchase. Source: SBS News / Rayane Tamer
He says hospitality operators have limited options when it comes to supply shortages.
"(Businesses) are definitely seeing an increase in the price of eggs, and that certainly is going to be passed on to customers, along with a myriad of other cost increases that are coming in this fiscal year," he said.
"Shortages just like this have been going on for weeks and months, and the hospitality industry has been passing those increased costs on through increased menu prices."
Mr Lambert says the combination of food shortages and rising operating expenses have led many hospitality businesses to increase their prices by up to 15 per cent.
How is COVID-19 linked?
Matthew Fenech, owner of egg famer Fenech Family Farms, says COVID-19 has been the main driver of differences between supply and demand for his business.
"Throughout COVID-19, sales have been down, so over those two years we've had no choice ... as birds were ready to be replaced, they weren't replaced," he said.
"And as demand has picked up, supply hasn't picked up as quick because it takes time to replace those goods."
Rown McMonnies, managing director of Australian Eggs, a research and development company that provides services for egg farmers, said while farmers are usually able to meet demand across the year through planning, COVID-19 disruption made this difficult.
“When the lockdowns ended last year, retail egg demand dropped immediately, sending a signal to farmers that less eggs were needed," he said.
"But it has bounced back much quicker than expected and demand for eggs has increased in the last 12 months.”
Does this happen every year?
While serious food shortages have been highlighted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, general shortages of fresh produce and other food items are a somewhat common occurrence.
In winter, for example, Mr Fenech says free-range farms often experience a reduction in production.
"You get times of year when there is extra supply and demand might be down ... it's like fruit and veggies, the same thing," Mr Fenech said.
"The market goes up and down all the time, but not to this extreme."
When will things get back to normal?
According to Mr Fenech, while predicting an end date for the shortage is near impossible, the process of increasing supply to meet demand will take months.
"By the time you decide (to increase supply), put eggs in an incubator, hatch those eggs, grow those chickens... you're looking at six to eight months," he said.
"We've just got to ride it out I suppose - chickens aren't like toilet paper, you can make a machine run 24-hours a day, but a chicken lays one egg and that's all it can do."
