Egg producers fear cheap imports threat

A big Yorkshire producer said it is clear some EU members will not hit the deadline for phasing out of old-fashioned battery cages – and meanwhile there is a growing threat of imports of intensively produced eggs from the rest of the world, in the form of powder and other foodstuffs based on eggs taken out of their shells.

Industry leaders have been warning of the danger of a European fudge allowing some countries to keep going with small bare cages, but have been reluctant, for diplomatic reasons, to name the countries.

At the Nuffield scholars annual conference, in Edinburgh, Nick Chippindale of Harrogate-based Chippindale Foods, had some details.

He spent his scholarship investigating the likely impact of the switch to a minimum standard of "enriched" cages, which is due to take effect EU-wide at the start of 2012.

The British Egg Industry Council has been warning that 30 per cent of old cages will not be replaced by then. And although in theory the eggs coming out of those cages could not be sold to other EU members, the BEIC is concerned that either the laggards will squeeze a derogation out of the European Commission or checks on sourcing will not be thorough enough to stop their eggs leaking into the market and undercutting the prices required by more expensive systems.

Germany has already made the conversion, because its shoppers have a strong awareness of chicken welfare; the UK is on schedule; and France is expected to come close. Romania is widely quoted as a country with no chance of making it. And Mr Chippindale says it is clear from his inquiries that Spain is lagging badly, along with Italy and Poland.

The printed summary of his report for the Nuffield conference said: "Due mainly to difficulties in raising finance and a consumer base far less concerned about animal welfare than their German neighbours, it seems highly unlikely that Poland will fully comply.

"The Italians will be between 50 per cent and 75 per cent compliant."

Worldwide, he says, "countries with lower welfare concerns are expanding (egg production) quicker than those without ... Mexico, for example, is poised to take advantage of any shortfalls in supply in more legislatively sensitive countries".

While those eggs could not come into the EU in their shells, they could come in as egg products – and that backdoor competition was going to become a mounting concern as European sources of cheap eggs dwindled.

CW 6/11/10