Overview
- Supermarkets report tight stocks and uneven deliveries, with retailers expecting weeks of strain and one discounter buyer warning normalization could take up to four months.
- Aldi Nord lifted the price for ten barn eggs to €2.49 at the start of January, a roughly 25% increase, and other egg products have also become more expensive.
- Outbreaks of avian influenza triggered culls and housing orders that cut laying output, while some producers shifted eggs from retail to industrial use, further thinning shelf supply.
- Germany covers under 70% of its egg needs domestically, cross-border inflows from the Netherlands have fallen due to regulatory changes, and Polish producers have faced bird flu impacts.
- Holiday scheduling gaps, staff shortages, restricted delivery windows and a very cold start to the year disrupted logistics, and trade groups describe the squeeze as temporary even as processors draw more eggs for seasonal products.