Supermarkets and egg packers in the UK should resist reducing egg prices, says Roger Gent, chairman of the British Free Range Egg Producers' Association, following the publication of a report suggesting that the cost of producing eggs is higher than ever.
"Whilst there may have been a slight easing of the price of wheat, producers sustained a very long period of high feed prices," said Gent. "They received an increase in the price for their eggs only after a long period of time, and we now need a sustained period before those prices come down again. Retailers and packers need to be fair.
"The price that producers received did not go up immediately when the cost of feed started to increase so the price should not be coming down immediately when the feed cost starts to ease," he said.
According to Gent, free range egg producers continue to feel severe financial pressure. A number of reports have highlighted the difficulties being faced by the European egg sector. The British Free Range Egg Producers Association conducts its own regular cost analysis of free range egg production and this has shown that producers have consistently been racking up losses over a long period when accounting for all costs, including depreciation.
