On the eve of Easter, consumers should be prepared for an increase in the price of eggs. Last week, the average price for a pack of ten poultry eggs in size M was 2.02 euros, explains Mechtild Kloppenburg, expert at Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI) in Bonn. “A year ago, the price was still 1.75 euros.”
“The reasons for this are the significant increase in energy, feed and wage prices, as well as bird flu. In addition, Easter egg prices traditionally increase due to an increase in demand. Eggs fall into the category of rare goods,” Kloppenburg pointed out.
Another reason for the high prices, experts say, is the ban on killing chickens, which came into force in January last year. This ended the practice in Germany of killing millions of male chickens, as it was uneconomical to raise them given the need for laying hens.
According to the Landvolk Farmers’ Association of Lower Saxony, many incubators failed to comply with legal requirements and therefore ceased operations. Innovation has forced small hatcheries with less than 500,000 eggs out of business. As a result, 45% fewer laying chicks hatched in German hatcheries last year.
For small hatcheries, investing in egg sex identification was too expensive, according to the state agricultural association Landvolk Niedersachsen, especially after income from the sale of male chicks as food for zoos and falconers stopped.
