MP raises egg industry concerns on transatlantic trade deal

Roger Williams pointed to particular concerns about egg products during his House of Commons speech
Roger Williams pointed to particular concerns about egg products during his House of Commons speech

Fears about the impact that a proposed transatlantic trade agreement could have on British egg producers have been raised in the House of Commons.

The concerns were voiced by Roger Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, during a Westminster debate on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – a planned free trade deal currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States. Egg industry leaders have already expressed their fears about the possibility of unfair competition from American egg producers, who operate to lower levels of animal welfare than farmers in the United Kingdom and the rest of the European Union. Roger Williams has now raised these concerns during a debate in Parliament.

“Egg producers are very concerned about competition from US producers,” he said during the TTIP debate. “UK producers have followed the improvements in animal welfare introduced by European regulations, which they estimate have added 15 per cent to their costs. Those include a change from a conventional battery cage industry to now using enriched cages,” he said. A ban on the use of conventional battery cages was introduced in the European Union at the beginning of 2012. UK producers spent millions of pounds converting their units to comply with the new rules.

Roger Williams said, “Stocking rates in the US are between 350 and 400 square centimetres per bird, while in the UK the rate is 750 square centimetres per bird, and there has been a great move to free range egg production in the UK. Added costs from environmental, food safety and animal welfare improvements have cost the industry dear,” he said.

At the Egg & Poultry Industry Conference (EPIC) in November, Mark Williams, chief executive of the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) warned of problems ahead for the egg industry if TTIP created completely free trade on eggs and egg products. “EU citizens wanted a ban on battery cages because they were deemed to be cruel, yet we still leave our doors open to allow eggs to come in from a banned system,” he said “I am sure most European consumers, if they realised that, would be very upset.” The egg industry had to live in the real world, he said, and if it was possible to ensure that any future imports under a TTIP agreement were covered by quota, and that tariffs were dismantled over a number of years, that would help the industry considerably. “If it’s a free-for-all from day one then we have a real problem, especially on the dried egg products in particular,” he said.

Roger Williams pointed to particular concerns about egg products during his House of Commons speech. “Egg producers are very concerned about egg products - such as egg powder, which is used in confectionery and other products - being exported to this country below the cost of production,” he said. “Egg producers wish their products to be considered as sensitive in the negotiations, and it is important not to export our egg sector to other countries because we need to look after our food security in the UK.”

The MP said that there were three ways in which the Government could play a crucial role in ensuring a reasonable outcome to the TTIP negotiations for the UK poultry sector – the poultry meat industry is also worried about the prospect of a completely free and open market. He said the Government should send a clear message to the European Commission and the United States that it did not regard current production practices as equivalent to those in the UK. If the United States wanted to export to the EU it should modify its processes to meet the needs of EU governments and consumers, he said. Secondly, the Government should press the European Commission to stand up for the European poultry industry in negotiations. Thirdly, the Government should make clear to the United States that free trade was a two way street – it was not simply an opportunity for the United States to export to Europe.

If it goes ahead, TTIP will be the world's largest free trade agreement, creating a market of 800 million people and, it is claimed, boosting economic output by an estimated $100 billion a year. The UK Government claims that an agreement could be worth £10 billion a year to the United Kingdom economy.

Roger Williams accepted that there may be great benefits for the UK. “Ultimately, TTIP represents a huge potential opportunity for both the EU and the UK, but just as with other sectors of the economy, we should be very wary and make sure that the drive to grow trade does not come at the expense of the huge strides that both the EU and the UK have made in their standards of food production. The UK poultry industry is a big contributor to the economy, especially in vulnerable rural areas, and it would be a tragedy if TTIP caused damage to it.”

In responding to the MP, Farm Minister, George Eustice said he was aware of concerns and he had met the British Poultry Council to discuss them. But he said the Government needed to consider the implications of the trade deal for different sectors within the farming industry.

He said, “We should recognise that it is inevitable that different countries will take a different approach to ensuring food safety and animal welfare. The UK and wider EU farm industry takes a farm-to-fork approach to food safety, as the honourable member for Brecon and Radnorshire pointed out, whereas the US approach has historically focused on the safety of the end product and taking safety measures closer to the point that food is consumed. Although such differences in approach are definitely relevant, they should not present an insurmountable obstacle to trade, which is why the principle of equivalence is important.”

The Minister said the Government did not want a trade deal that undermined good farming practices in the UK. He said that EU negotiators had consistently stated that they would uphold the EU’s food safety standards in the TTIP discussions.

“Although our approaches differ from those of the US, there are also opportunities, particularly when it comes to welfare. TTIP presents an opportunity for us to work with the US to improve co-operation on animal welfare and promote international standards. If we take an optimistic approach, there is the possibility of leading calls for an improvement in animal welfare practices in the US, perhaps as the quid pro quo for access to the EU market. We should not lose sight of that opportunity.

“We also continue to support the European Commission to ensure that high welfare standards are a requirement of the trade agreement, and we continue to work through international bodies such as OIE - the World Organisation for Animal Health - both to raise standards and to ensure that signatory countries fully implement the decisions reached,” he said.

Whilst the issue of the impact of TTIP on the egg sector was discussed at Westminster, in Europe the representative body for the egg industry in the European Union – EUWEP – called on member states of the EU and the European Commission to ensure that the improved laying hen welfare standards introduced in the EU were not compromised by allowing eggs and egg products produced to lower standards to be imported into the EU.

EUWEP said that, according to a new report, the EU egg market could be flooded with imported eggs and egg products produced to lower food safety and animal welfare standards. The report, which was commissioned by EUWEP and produced by the Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI) in the Netherlands - an independent research institute that is part of Wageningen University and Research Centre – said that, whilst EU consumers had welcomed improved welfare legislation, egg producers outside the EU did not have to comply. They could still produce and export eggs and egg products produced from battery cages to the EU. It said problems would be exacerbated by any lowering or removal of import tariffs.

Mark Williams, who is the secretary general of EUWEP as well as chief executive of BEIC, said, “The changes made within the EU have been great news for hen welfare and have been welcomed by animal welfare groups and consumers. However, all of the good work that the EU egg sector has done in improving hen welfare is likely to be lost unless the EU acts.

“Of course it’s cheaper to produce eggs from hens in battery cages, but it can’t be morally right that, while we protect the welfare of our hens in the EU, eggs and egg products produced to lower standards are still allowed to be imported. The egg sector must be protected otherwise welfare standards will fall as we import eggs from outside the EU,” he said.

EUWEP said that as well as complying with animal welfare legislation, egg producers in Europe were also bound by legislation in several other areas, including food safety, animal health, feed and reducing any impact on the environment.

Jan Lähde, president of EUWEP, said, “We are not denying the importance of all the legislation that the EU egg sector has to comply with, but we are concerned that eggs and egg products in other countries do not meet the same standards that we have. We are asking those negotiating the various bilateral trade agreements with non-EU countries to ensure that there is a requirement placed on producers in those countries to improve their own hen welfare standards. In the meantime, no imports should be allowed to ensure that all the good things that we do remain recognised and protected,” he said.

The European Commission has previously said that it was pressing for sensitive product status for eggs during negotiations with the United States. EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said last year that the aim of TTIP was "beyond simply reducing tariffs across the board - is to make the EU and the US regulatory systems more compatible and to help shape global rules in trade." He said, “The reality is that over the last decades, Europe has seen its standards rise to a level of global excellence and leadership. And it's on this basis that both sides agree to use such a transformative process to raise their game.”

Robert Gooch, director of policy with the British Free Range Egg Producers' Association (BFREPA), who gained some experience of the workings of the European Commission during time spent working in Brussels, has said that sensitive product status would mean that a quota would apply to the number of eggs that could enter the EU tariff free. Egg imports above the agreed quota would be subject to tariffs in the normal way.