Egg shortages continue in France after bird flu and weather chaos
Sales rose by 300 million eggs between 2024 and 2025 as producers struggle to meet demand
Demand for eggs has increased for three years in France
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Shoppers in France are again being met with a lack of eggs on shelves at the start of 2026, as shortages that began last year continue to persist.
Shortfalls have been reported in several supermarket chains across the country since the start of the year, particularly this week.
A combination of avian flu outbreak in some farms in addition to weather conditions means that, even on farms where eggs were ready to be collected, there were no trucks able to pick them up.
“Personally, on Monday (January 5), I had 300,000 eggs that were supposed to leave my farm,” said president of the egg industry association Yves-Marie Baudet to FranceInfo.
“They didn't leave; they only left yesterday (January 7) because trucks were banned from driving in my department for 36 hours,” he added.
France’s egg industry has been under strain for the last three years, said Mr Baudet, as consumers look towards the product as a high-protein substitute for red meat, with the latter deemed too expensive.
In 2025, an additional 300 million eggs were sold compared to 2024, putting a huge strain on farmers.
“We’ve never seen a trend like this,” he said.
Last year, out-of-stock rate for eggs was around 13%, compared to 2% for most other products. In some areas and supermarkets, this remained at around 15% from June onwards, up to 15.3% at hypermarkets.
At one point last year, out-of-stock rates reached 18%.
Producers hope issues fixed by June
Domestic producers aim to increase national production to avoid imports from non-EU countries such as Ukraine, which have been highlighted as an area of concern in previous farmer protests pointing to farm owners in France being undercut.
These eggs can be sold cheaper as they do not face the same regulations as domestic producers do.
A new national plan to increase production should see an uptick in national production from June onwards, replying to the current surge in demand and keeping shelves stocked providing a further hike does not take place.
In the meantime, shelves should be restocked this weekend as weather conditions improve and trucks can reach farms and supermarkets.
