The makings of a classical "supply shortage" are here in this article.
If you read it and think "oh those poor supermarkets, those poor egg farmers" then you're the exact customer that they want. Here's a quick recap of the article:
Oh dear, we don't know how it happened but the demand for eggs is outstripping supply, it'd be a pity if we started people hoarding eggs the way they did with pasta and toilet paper! And it's all due to eggs being one of the cheaper sources of protein available now that all prices are rising and so we'd better justify raising prices on eggs, too. Oh why oh why do our customers want so much protein anyway?
UPDATE: I noticed that commercials exhorting customers to use eggs and more eggs and more eggs, which leads me to wonder if they're serious about any "consistent customer experience" other than the distinct sensation of being conned, bent over, and shafted soundly...
Well, that's a paraphrase but anyway - have a read and then my incisive take on the situation... 😺😹
The Panic Button
Here's a section from the article, interspersed with observations:
Australian Eggs managing director . . . said there was “clearly a gap between egg supply and demand at present, but this seems to be mainly demand driven”.
If the same number or more are being produced and people aren't buying more then this demand MUST be manufactured. (Cue warehouse with eggs. Like they do with meat and fruit and vegetables.)
“Australia’s population is growing, and . . . people are looking to more affordable proteins to get food on the table,” he said.
So - the MD is complicit. He wants you to believe that the entire egg production industry suddenly forgot to take population growth into account, after decades of it being a common factor they've always considered. They want to make the "more affordable proteins," less affordable. - For you and me, not them.
“This is contributing to stronger demand for eggs than anticipated and the industry will have to play catch up to fill the gap.”
"Catch up?" As I just said, if population increase demand had been properly taken care of (and I believe - despite voicing a suspicion in my last paragraph - that in all likelihood it + WAS) then either supermarkets have figured out a way to drive customers into and egg-hoarding toilet-paper-storing frenzy - or - the more simple answer - they've been stockpiling eggs to create demand. (Cue warehouse with eggs. Like they do with meat and fruit and vegetables.)
According to Australian Eggs, a member-owned non-profit that provides marketing and research and development for Australian egg farmers, supply hasn’t faltered, with an average of 18.5 million eggs produced each day and 6.5 billion a year.
And while I hate to cast aspersions on these Stewards of Scrambled, Soft-boiled, Scotched, Sandwich, and Sunny-side-up spheroids, it's also been known for these Stalwarts to Sometimes Sneakily Stash in order to drive up prices. (Cue warehouse with eggs. Like they do with meat and fruit and vegetables.)
“There might be a bit of competition for eggs, but we are a long way from the COVID scenario,” Mr McMonnies said.
“Even patchy shelves have eggs on them, and consumers that need eggs will be able to get them.”
Okay that sounds like a cue to start stampedes. Ignore them, just buy what you need when you need. And if you so desperately need that protein - cook with dried chickpeas and beans occasionally, they're not bad, and add a lot of other nutrients to your diet as well. Meanwhile back to The BS Castle:
"Despite an increase in supply" ???????? How many question marks do I have to put after that to make it stand out like dog doings in an egg carton? If there's "increased supply" then what? - they're blaming greedy shoppers? ("Oh not you, Sir or Madam. YOU are our valued customer. But you know those other ones, the ones in poverty and hunger. Their cheapness and greed know no bounds.")
A Coles spokesperson said the supermarket was continuing to monitor supply and was working hard with suppliers to improve availability for customers.
No. No they're not. The previous paragraph from the article makes it clear that it's time to "Cue warehouse with eggs. Like they do with meat and fruit and vegetables." Not ALL the shrinkage of egg stocks is down to those greedy hungry slimebags that are just trying to cheap out on their protein supplies. (In fact, the supermarkets' shameless price gouging has put those people into the bracket where they can't afford meat protein any more.) Nope - but expect to be buying shitty eggs that have been carefully managed from room temperature to the PRECISE temperature at which eggs can be stored for years, and then stored for years to be sold when a new price shift happens.
What reasons could they have to do all that?
I'm talking about things like this: The supermarket giants' spokespersons have said in the past that they have enough frozen meat in their warehouses to allow them to supply demand for up to thirty years. Yep, you heard that right, meat can be safely stored for decades if your food scientists have done their research and know the PRECISE temperature at which meat will store forever, know the PRECISE length of time to spend in gradually reducing the temperature of that meat until it hits optimum temperature, and if you can keep the variations of temperature to less than a degree or two, then Farmer Brown's old Bessie can become practically immortal.
The same goes for a LOT MORE produce than you may think. And now you might remember a story that came up around a decade ago about a few tons of mystery meat in China that had been moved between coolrooms and freezers - for over thirty years!!! - and that was still being added to many food products before the authorities finally destroyed it when they discovered it. And you might think "Why the hell does my supermarket want to do something so seemingly shonky?"
And so I can tell you why they do it. For instance, in 1900, prime rump steak was around sixpence a pound. I can't recall where I spotted that little factoid but it seems about right, and would mean that a kilo at the time would have cost you around about a shilling. A shilling from 1900 would be the equivalent of $4.50 - $5.00 today. But a kilo of of prime rump is now about $22/kg.
In 1901 terms, it's as if that kilo of meat had gone up by a factor of almost five times. And I'm being a bit conservative with estimating inflation, which has accelerated much faster in the latter half of the last hundred years. So now it can be explained:
Supermarket buys 100 tons of rump steak in 1990 at $350 a ton, and can sell it at about $700 a ton at 1990 prices. But if they "permafreeze" half of it back then and were to sell it now, they'll get $1,200 a ton for it. And if they can also create an artificial stampede for it, $2,000 a ton. Those are attractive margins.
How do I know they'd actually do this?
Because we're talking about supermarkets that will sell you an apple that's been meticulously coolroom warehoused for several years without mentioning how long it's been in storage. That buy just the milk solids of ten kilolitres of milk from the dairy farmer, then store five kilolitres and water the rest down to ten kilolitres of "fresh milk."
 |
| Nope - No eggs anywhere! |
And yes - they make no secret of this, saying they do things like that to provide a "consistent quality of product for the consumer" - without mentioning that they're also magically doubling their income along the way AND keeping stocks of freeze-dried milk solids as a backup so that when the dairy farmers get too uppity on price they can just drop their contracts for a year or two and keep supplying milk but now with an apparently justified price increment "due to those greedy farmers" as well...
Do you understand this? Things like computer chips age out - not because they degrade but because progress overtakes them and so they date pretty quickly. New chips and components come along that are smaller and faster and draw less power and provide more functions, and the warehouse full of last year's top mobile phone processor chips? Well, best luck trying to move them this year with the new teraflop gigacore processors selling for the same price or cheaper.
Meat, milk, eggs, fruit, vegetables, and flour. sugar, and salt on the other hand are pretty much immortal when preserved in cool rooms and microcontrolled freezers. And so, supermarkets must be finding that building freezing facilities and storage facilities pays for itself otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. And their profits are our costs...
Your Takeaway:
Don't believe the hype. Don't stockpile eggs. There's only so far that the supermarkets can push a shorting of eggs, and if people don't pay their inflated prices, they'll be stuck with egg. In stores, in warehouses, and on their faces (one hopes) - so share this post, share it share it share it and the more people see it the fewer gullible victims there'll be to be ripped off.
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BTW:
Here's a little list of ways you can have eggs:
- Scrambled eggs
- Sunny-side up
- Soufflé
- Shakshuka
- Scotch eggs
- Spanish omelette
- Strata
- Shirred eggs
- Soft-boiled eggs
- Spaghetti carbonara
- Scotch egg roll
- Sausage and egg casserole
- Scotch egg pie
- Sambal telur (Indonesian dish)
- Scrambled egg sandwich
- Scrambled egg burrito
- Scrambled egg wrap
- Scrambled egg muffin
- Smoked salmon eggs Benedict
- Spinach and feta omelette
- Spinach and mushroom frittata
- Spanish tortilla
- Scrambled egg tacos
- Scotch egg curry
- Scotch egg salad
- Shrimp and egg fried rice
- Smoked salmon scramble
- Spinach and cheese strata
- Spanish-style baked eggs
- Spinach and goat cheese omelette
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