Supermarkets facing egg shortage after customers notice empty shelves: 'Why are there no eggs?'

Your local café might not be serving up as many scrambled eggs in the coming weeks as some parts of Australia are in the midst of an egg shortage crisis.

Customers have noticed depleted stock on shelves across the country, with some supermarkets fresh out of eggs completely. 

One Woolworths customer in Melbourne was shocked to find their local store had completely sold out of the poultry staple.

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Watch the clip above.

In a video posted to Twitter, user Meanwhile in Melbourne shared footage of a deserted egg fridge in Woolies. "Why are there NO eggs at Woolworths?," the shocked customer captioned the clip.

It has been an issue impacting suppliers and supermarkets since mid-2022. Patchy supply and skyrocketing prices impacted shelf stock for months – and the shortage appeared to have been resolved until now.

Speaking to 9Honey Kitchen, a Woolworths spokesperson confirmed increased demand in Victoria in particular has been impacting in-store supply.

"Egg supply at Woolworths is stable and increasing each month. While we continue to deliver eggs to our stores regularly, we're currently seeing increased demand in Victoria," the supermarket giant said in a statement.

"We thank our customers for their patience and understanding."

Coles also shared the following statement with 9Honey Kitchen: "Due to ongoing industry-wide egg supply challenges, customers may not find their usual brand of eggs when they shop.

"We're continuing to monitor supply and are working hard with our suppliers to improve availability as quickly as possible."

Aldi Australia, meanwhile, said it was working to return egg stock to normal after a period of supply issues.

"Like other retailers, we are working with our supplier partners to balance egg supply so that customers will see a return to regular stock levels as soon as possible," a spokesperson said in a statement.

However, it appears some Woolworths stores in Sydney have ample supply of eggs.

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The ongoing poultry shortage hit crisis mode in August 2022, with some supermarkets including Coles enacting a two-carton limit in stores.

The egg industry faces supply issues impacted by rising feed costs and a hangover from the pandemic restrictions which reduced laying flocks.

Egg Farmers of Australia told SBS in 2022 the industry had been impacted by bushfires, floods, droughts, the mice plague, COVID-19 and increased production costs.

Wes Lambert, director for the Foodservice Advocacy Body, said at the time that retailers and hospitality venues were likely to pass on the rising costs to customers.

"[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.

"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."

Australians eat around 17 million eggs every single day, according to The Conversation. During the 2020-2021 financial year, farmers produced about 6.3 billion eggs.