Producers get much-needed increase

The country’s two biggest egg packers – Deans Foods and Stonegate – have increased their producer price for free range eggs this week by over 3p a dozen.

Stonegate director Richard Kempsey said: “We have concluded successful negotiations with our major customers to secure rises in retail pricing. This allows us to pass on substantial and immediate increases in producer prices to meet extra production costs.”

Producers are currently faced with spiralling feed costs which is also having a knock-on effect on the cost of replacement pullets. The increase by Stonegate is worth an average of 3.25p a dozen.

Deans Foods have upped their price to contract producers by an average of 3.6 pence a dozen. Deans are now paying 89.5p for a dozen very large; 83.5p for large; 62p for medium; and 34p for small. An increase of 5p on seconds to 24p reflects the strong demand for eggs into the processing sector.

Current packer prices still lag behind those being quoted on the wholesale market but Deans managing director David Tromans emphasised that their negotiations with retailers had been based on rising production costs not wholesale prices.

“We are convinced that this is the only basis on which we can secure fair and consistent prices for eggs in the long term,” he said.

BFREPA chairman Tom Vesey welcomed the increase and said it would go a long way towards offsetting the extra costs already absorbed by producers.