Oh blissful time above Svinesund! There are eggs on the shelves here.
Thursday 28 March at 19:45
At Maximat at Nordby Shoppingcenter in Strömstad, there are plenty of 18-packs of “everyday eggs” at a promotional price of SEK 35.90.
And Norwegians on Maundy Thursday didn’t let themselves be asked twice.
– Completely normal consumption, assures Sang Ngoc (39) from Strømmen.
The father of the family has picked three cartons with him.
– There are eight of us in the extended family, so this will last a couple of weeks.
– Was it empty at home?
– I’ve seen a bit everywhere, near my work in Oslo and my home in Strømmen. But none of the shops have eggs, and then there is not much you can do.
The egg cartons were both in the fridges and on several pallets when VG visited the giant grocery store just over the border on Thursday evening.
But it hasn’t been like this all Easter, if Nettavisen is to be believed. On Tuesday, Maximat ran out of eggs, while Nordby Supermarket had to ration the eggs.
In Norway, grocery chains have problems getting eggs to customers. The lack of eggs is well established – at Easter time it has been extremely bad.
Nortura replies that they deliver the same amount of eggs as at Easter last year, but believes that the focus on eggs has led to more people hoarding:
– We encourage you to only buy the eggs you need this Easter, writes communications advisor Matilda Aronssen in Nortura.
Ida Bonsak witnessed on Wednesday that not everyone follows the call.
– A lady filled the trolley and the entire luggage compartment with eggs at Metro in Lørenskog. There must have been a couple of hundred cartons.
– Then it was empty, right?
– There weren’t very many eggs left on the shelves then, no.
Ida Bonsak is on a spontaneous trip to Maxi Mat with her mother Anne (54) and sister Linn (21). Two packages of eggs have been added to the cart.
– It’s enough. There will be some baking, in any case. Maybe cakes.
– You’re not going crazy?
– It’s okay to share with others. We were a little surprised to find eggs here.
– Strange that it’s empty at home?
– It can happen. But the worst thing is that people have to hoard everything for themselves.
- Why is there an egg shortage? Nortura believes it is due to illness in Europe and a weak Norwegian krone, which has led to more people buying Norwegian eggs than usual. In addition, people buy more eggs in the shops.
- Who is Nortura? Nortura is the farmer’s own company and a cooperative owned by around 16,000 Norwegian farmers. Their purpose is to facilitate agriculture throughout Norway, so that eggs and meat are produced in all parts of the country.
- What happens in the shops? Some stores have completely empty shelves, while others have received new deliveries of eggs. It varies a lot from place to place.
- What does this mean for Easter? Many people may find that there are no eggs in the shops when they go shopping for Easter breakfast. This may mean that someone has to change traditional Easter dishes.
- What happened last year? Last year there were too many eggs, and the farmers were paid for having hens that did not lay eggs. The situation has therefore changed a lot in one year.
