New Zealand faces egg shortage as supply issues increase

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Supermarkets in New Zealand are experiencing a shortage of table eggs as a consequence of the phase-out of caged eggs. This leads to a limit on the number of tray eggs that a customer can buy due to the reduction in the egg supply.

Eggs are unavailable at some Countdowns around the country and Foodstuffs has responded to the shortage by introducing a temporary limit on the purchase of eggs (Read more here).

For example, customers at Pak’Nsave in Christchurch were only allowed to buy two cartons each, while the shelves were empty in other places, such as New World and Countdown in Levin.

This phenomenon is the result of the ban on battery-caged hens notified back in 2012 that comes into effect on Saturday, and over the past few years, the deadline has caused confusion in the producers.

• The ban has widely affected the poultry industry, and more than 75 percent of producers have been obligated to change their farming methods and career, said Michael Brooks, the Egg Producers Federation Executive Director.

“The supermarket’s announcement to refuse colony cage eggs, the end of the cage system, plus Covid, plus the grain cost rising because of the Ukraine war have all come together,” he said.

Mr. Brooks emphasized that the problem has “led to a drop of about 600,000 or 700,000 hens in the commercial flock. That’s a lot of eggs that aren’t available.”

• Apart from the shortage, the egg price would also increase since farmers are expending millions implementing the new practices to produce cage-free eggs.

Supermarkets in New Zealand