As the crisis in Ukraine affects shipments to Europe and the Middle East, severe outbreaks of avian flu in the United States and France are limiting global egg supplies and hiking costs for the food staple.
Consumers who rely on eggs as a low-cost source of protein and a replacement for more expensive meat will feel the pinch the most. In the United States and Europe, demand spikes around the Easter and Passover holidays, when families utilise eggs to bake and colour Easter eggs.
According to Reuters assessments of federal and state government data, bird flu has killed more than 19 million egg-laying hens on commercial U.S. farms this year, the largest outbreak since 2015, wiping out about 6% of the country’s flock.
To contain the disease, which is often spread by wild birds, entire flocks of chickens are killed when they become afflicted.
The deadly virus and conflict are the latest obstacles for egg producers, who are already dealing with labour shortages and rising energy and food prices.
Higher egg prices eat into bakeries’ and food industries’ revenues, which are already struggling to keep up with rising wheat and other commodity costs. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, world food prices rose about 13% in March to a new record high, as the conflict in Ukraine, a key supplier of wheat and corn, pushed up grain prices.
Producers predict egg costs to remain high for some time since contaminated farms will take months to reopen. Work at facilities that turn shell eggs into goods like dried eggs and liquid eggs used in food items like cake and pancake mixes and egg sandwiches is also hampered by infections.
‘The product business is in a state of panic,’ said Marcus Rust, CEO of Rose Acre Farms, the second-largest egg producer in the United States. He said the business lost around 1.5 million egg-laying birds at a bird flu-infected Iowa farm, which also shut down a processing unit.
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