McDonald's restricts breakfast hours across Australia over egg supply concerns

Woolworths and Coles have imposed purchasing limits on eggs due to supply chain disruption caused by bird flu. (ABC Rural: David Claughton)

Consumers can expect to pay more for eggs at the check-out in coming weeks as one of Australia's biggest fast-food chains limits its breakfast times due to supply concerns.

McDonald's announced on Tuesday it was temporarily cutting off serving breakfast at 10:30 instead of midday nationwide.

It came as supermarkets imposed restrictions on how many cartons of eggs could be purchased in one transaction while Victoria, NSW and the ACT battled outbreaks of avian influenza.

"Like many retailers, we are carefully managing supply of eggs due to the current industry challenges," a McDonald's spokesperson said in a statement.

"We're continuing to work closely with our network of Aussie farmers, producers, and suppliers, as the industry comes together to manage this challenge."

Price bump

Ritchies IGA chief executive Fred Harrison said the supply of eggs remained steady despite almost 10 per cent of Australia's egg laying hens being affected by the bird flu outbreak.

But he said retail demand had increased so consumers could expect to pay more for eggs in coming weeks.

"We're probably seeing a 10-20 per cent increase in demand," he said.

"We've had some price increases start to flow through — we're seeing four to five per cent increases starting to come through from some of our suppliers.

"There will be a bit of an increase in the not too distant future but prices will go back down."

Coles and Woolworths last month imposed purchasing limits of two cartons of eggs per person across south-eastern Australia.

"We're expecting a short-term delay in stock from one of our egg suppliers in NSW, ACT and Victoria due to the temporary closure of one of their packing sheds," a Woolworths spokesperson said.

"Their supply is expected to recover towards the end of the week as they ramp up operations at their other sites."

IGA did not put in place restrictions.

Mr Harrison urged consumers not to panic buy produce.

"We've said to our store managers that if they feel like there will be stocking issues with eggs then they have the authority to make the decision and limit purchases to two [cartons]," he said.

"But it's a store-by store basis and we'll continue to monitor.

"It's able to be managed but if [bird flu] escalates it could be more of a problem.

"As it was with toilet rolls during COVID, if panic buying starts, things go askew."

Steady supply

Egg producers said they were confident in the supply chain.

Joel Owin runs 2,000 egg laying hens on his White Swan Eggs pasture raised farm, which is just outside Agriculture Victoria's restricted zone in the west of the state.

He said there had been a spike in demand for eggs at the farmers market and grocery check-out.

"When the first outbreak happened in Meredith, there was a surge in egg sales about one to two weeks after that," he said.

"We noticed at the farmers markets that the average sale, or the amount of dozens people were buying, were up.

"But people were more concerned about how we physically were and hoping we stay virus free because if we do get the virus here all of our chooks will need to be culled which would end our production."

Mr Owin said seasonal factors were affecting stock on his farm.

"Generally this time of year is more slow for a lot of producers," he said.

He said hens had to contend with cold temperatures, wind and low daylight hours.

"We try not to push them too hard through the winter and just let them naturally lay what they can," he said.

"They're still producing fairly good numbers, but not what you'd expect in spring or summer."