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Apology we had a computer glitch a few months ago and somehow lost the email addresses of over 40 of our members, after receiving numerous phone calls and emails we have now found the problem so if you bear with us we hope to rectify the problem in the coming weeks.
The market, it appears to be reasonably in balance, all Colony seem to be finding a home and Free Range are starting to get tighter in supply with all the special offers that are still ongoing.
This week we have included 2 articles from the chicken industry as they give us an indication as to the direction that our egg industry is heading.
The first from Holland is showing how they are moving towards slower-growing chickens with considerably more space which is an increase in welfare standards, but obviously with a considerable increase in cost of production, their supermarkets and consumers are paying more for the privilege.
The second article is from the Ukraine lower standards of welfare, much cheaper feed, who are now exporting to the EU, one of their biggest customers is Holland.
By increasing our welfare standards with related costs of production linked to alternative systems Free Range, Organic Etc. which is obviously linked to our nations higher standard of living, are we leaving the back door open for production and particularly product from other countries.
How does all this affect us in Scotland, we have witnessed our chicken industry being moved to Southern England, basically because of the price of feed and logistics, as feed is lowest in Southern England and gradually increases the further North you go, with a considerable hike when you cross the Border and as for the North of Scotland and our remote places there are only certain firms that will deliver.
Add to this that our minister of Agriculture Richard Lockhead has decreed that there has to be no GM crops in Scotland in order to maintain our high ethical standards, we are dependent on feed and ingredients from other countries, will we see more of our Scottish egg production being transferred to Southern England, or abroad through supermarket pricing pressures as we are witnessing more eggs appearing without SCO on their shells as indication of Scottish production.
