Us Egg Crisis: the example in Australia suggests will not be too easy

• Australia is faced with egg shortages similar to the United States due to bird flu and industry changes.
• Sales have been rationed in certain stores since June.
• The recovery of egg production is slow, reaching more than six months.

More than six months after certain Australian stores have limited the sale of eggs, certain shelves are still empty.

While American consumers are starting to feel the same pinch, the example of Australia could show that such shortages do not end quickly.

This week, several American stores, including Costco, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, began to limit the number of boxes that customers could buy.

It is not unknown to Australians. In June of last year, the Coles and Woolworths channels began to limit the purchases of egg-carton for two per buyer.

In January, supermarkets still limited sales, certain shelves were naked and producers of the body of industry in Australia noted a “lower offer”.

The causes have a lot in common with the United States.

1) The avian flu – although different strains – in both cases, erases around 7% of the national herd.

2) The demand increased during the holidays, putting pressure on supplies.

3) A long -term trend of cage bird eggs to the barn or the free range.

This resulted in a price increase of 11.5% in Australia last year – steep, but quite minor compared to the increase of 65% in the United States.

If the seven -month -old egg shortage of Australia is something to pass, American consumers could wait a while to easily access eggs.

Australia examined several months before egg production returned to normal while it repopulates its herds, even after its government declared its epidemic on the flu of birds.

Emily Burton, a sustainable food production professor who focuses on poultry at British University of Nottingham Trent, told BI about six months before the loss of a herd to return to the production of full -fledged eggs.

US officials still reporting sporadic epidemics in commercial herds as recently as Friday, supply chains can remain blurred for a while.