There's an egg shortage here in New Zealand at the moment too.

Caged eggs were given ten years to be phased out in 2012, so they are no longer a thing here as of the end of last year. Most suppliers adapted during that time by switching to a colony or barn model, which, while still not free-range, could still be reasonably argued as being a step-up in conditions over what there was before.

But then at the same time, several supermarkets here also recently announced that they would no longer be supplying colony eggs either, i.e. they would only be selling free-range. They probably felt like it was a clever PR move at the time, but as a result of this announcement, several suppliers have now quit the NZ market completely as it's simply not economically viable for them to operate as free-range.

This has naturally led to a sudden major supply issue, resulting in a sudden spike in egg prices, which was magnified further over the recent holiday period as people looked to bake themselves all sorts of annual traditional holiday foods.

A few weeks ago when I was staying out of town for a few days, I went to three different supermarkets in town and not a single egg was available in any of them. Since I've returned home things have improved a little in that at least there are some eggs back on the shelves, but purchase limits apply and of course they are definitely more expensive.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national...h-supply-issues