The egg shortage in Norway continues after Easter

The short version

• Norway is experiencing an egg shortage which has led to many shops having empty shelves, and some customers have even traveled to Sweden to buy eggs
• Coop criticizes Nortura for not delivering eggs
• Nortura believes the egg shortage now before Easter is partly due to high farm sales
• Agriculture Minister Geir Pollestad asks people not to throw eggs

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You know there is an egg shortage when even the Minister of Agriculture had to go on an egg hunt at Easter.

And it’s not just him who went on a highly involuntary egg hunt. Some crawled to the cross and drove over the limit for the protein-rich gold.

Nortura, which is responsible for calculating enough eggs for the people, believes that the focus on eggs has led to more people hoarding.

In an interview with the Nation, Agriculture Minister Geir Pollestad will not refuse Norwegians to hoard. Instead, he asks people to use the eggs they buy now right up until Midsummer.

But here comes a status update for those of us who don’t have a stomach of steel.

– We could sell a lot more eggs if we had been given access, as we were promised by the market regulator before Easter. There were far from enough eggs available. Many stores sometimes had empty shelves, but with large local variations, says communications manager Harald Kristiansen at Coop to VG.

He goes on to say that they wonder what Nortura is doing to ensure enough eggs in general, and not least for the festive days in May.

– They have long claimed that they would deliver the same amount of eggs for Easter as last year and that it would be enough. Demand has increased, and Nortura has known this for a long time. The preliminary figures say that we got and thus sold fewer eggs than last year.

Egg scramble

– But Nortura believes that eggs for the industry also go to the consumer in the end?

– Yes, but it goes with mayonnaise and waffles, it doesn’t help if you’re going to have fried eggs and scrambled eggs, and in May we’re going to have scrambled eggs and cakes.

Egg sales have also increased in the past year, which he believes Nortura has not taken to heart:

— When Nortura is unable to follow up, there will be undercoverage. They have claimed that it is enough for the customers. It is not. Now we expect the politicians to follow up. If action is not taken, we risk the egg shortage continuing.

Nortura replies that they received slightly fewer eggs than last year before Easter due to an unusually high sale of eggs directly from the farm.

– This means that we get correspondingly fewer eggs into our packaging companies. It is possible that this also applies to Den Stolte Hane, which is the supplier of eggs to Coop, says communications advisor Matilda Aronsson to VG.

– All consumer eggs went to grocery stores in the weeks before and during Easter. This will also be the case towards the holidays in May – eggs for homemade pavlova and scrambled eggs are therefore prioritized over other food production.

Nortura follows the regulations that the politicians have adopted, she emphasizes:

– Coop’s egg supplier, Den Stolte Hane, took this case to court before Easter, but lost on all counts. The court concluded that Nortura follows the regulations. If Coop wants a new agricultural policy, they must contact the politicians who design the regulations.

Derailment, Coop believes:

– Referring to the trial between Den Stolte Hane and Nortura is only an attempt to derail the debate. As market regulator, Nortura has a duty to supply all players in the market with enough eggs. It is a fact. Coop has received fewer eggs than we have needed, and less than last year, Kristiansen retorts.

On Tuesday morning, online store Oda’s egg selection looks like this:

Kiwi, Coop and Rema are also struggling to supply the shops with enough eggs.

– The supply of eggs is unfortunately still challenging and will be for some time to come, says communications director Kristine Aakvaag Arvin at Kiwi to VG.

– An expectation was created that there would be enough eggs for Easter, and then it is of course very unfortunate that many people encountered empty shelves. The situation is of course frustrating for us.

The same applies to Rema:

– We still have challenges in supplying our stores with enough eggs, but we are continuously replenishing. We make sure, as best as possible, to have a fair distribution so that all our stores have eggs. In addition, we have contact with several local suppliers throughout the country who can supplement further, writes Line Aarnes, Category and Purchasing Director in an e-mail to VG.

But! A small light in the darkness is that they think there may be more eggs in the shop now than at Easter, when we eat more than usual.

• 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. They are the market regulator and are responsible for calculating correctly.

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