Some supermarkets temporarily sold out of eggs or rationed what they had to one or two dozen per household.
But the situation in Canada is far better than in the United States where wholesale prices have shot up by 180 per cent since the beginning of March.
Some egg-grading stations there say orders from retailers have increased six-fold. Retail sales for the first two weeks of March were 44 per cent greater than the same period last year.
Margo Ladauceur, egg-industry specialist with the Canadian Egg and Poultry Processors Council, said demand has been brisk, but Canadians have been able to meet it by diverting eggs that normally would go to the foodservice industry.
Demand there is almost nil because restaurants are shut down.
“Regarding egg prices, there are no significant changes that we're aware of,” she said of the Canadian wholesale market.
Normally grading stations, such as Burnbrae and Gray Ridge, import heavily from the United States in the weeks leading up to Easter, but Ladauceur said not this year because U.S. eggs are simply not available.
