Chick placement figures fall
First quarter statistics released by Defra show large year-on-year falls in the layer chick placement figures for the United Kingdom.
The figure for March was 2.2 million, which was down by more than a quarter on the total for the same month last year. The figure of three million layer chicks placed in the UK in March 2010 was 27 per cent higher than this year’s figure. Such a dramatic fall in the number of layer chicks placed will be welcome news to the industry, which has been struggling as a result of oversupply in the market. Free range egg producers have suffered cuts in the price they receive for their eggs at a time when feed prices have soared and other input prices have also been increasing.
UK packers have been stressing the need to reduce the number of eggs on the market and reduced chick placements will inevitably help to do so in time. The figure for March continued the trend from February when the 2.5 million chicks placed represented a five per cent fall compared with the 2.6 million placed in February 2010. After a three per cent year-on-year fall in December, January saw a 19 per cent increase compared to last year. However, the figure was artificially inflated because January was a five-week month for the Defra statisticians.
Despite the January figure, the trend for layer chick placements is a downward one. The 12-month moving total has fallen from 35.1 million in January to 34.9 million in February and 34.1 million in March.
The first quarter figures for layer eggs set by UK hatcheries indicate a similar downward trend. After a one per cent year-on-year increase in January (also artificially inflated because it was a five-week month), the figure of 5.6 million set in February this year was 28 per cent down compared with the 7.8 million set in February last year. The March figure was a 12 per cent year-on-year fall. Numbers fell from 8 million last March to 7.1 million in the same month this year. The 12-month moving total for layer eggs set has fallen from 98.1 million in January to 95.9 million in February and 95 million in March.
First quarter packing station figures for the UK show that free range eggs accounted for 44 per cent of all eggs passing through packing stations in the first three months of 2011. The total figure of free range eggs was 3,007,000 cases in the first quarter compared with 2,555,000 cases in the first quarter of 2010. The statistics show that free range was the sector producing all the growth in production, with all other sectors falling back.
The first quarter total for cage eggs was 3,343,000 cases compared with 3,386,000 cases in the first three months of last year. Cage eggs now account for 49 per cent of the total. Defra’s final quarter report for 2010 showed cage eggs with 50 per cent share for the year compared with 42 per cent for free range eggs. The first quarter figures for 2011 show that free range continues to grow its share of the market.
The first quarter figure for barn eggs was 291,000 cases – a fall from the 308,000 cases handled by the packing stations in the first quarter last year. Organic figures also fell again. In the first three months of this year the figure was 212,000 cases. Last year’s first quarter figure was 249,000 cases. Organic clearly continues to struggle in difficult financial times for consumers.
The total number of eggs of all typed passing through UK packhouses in the first quarter of the year was 6,854,000 cases. This compared with 6,498,000 cases in the first three months of last year and represents a 5.5 per cent year-on-year increase.
There were increases in each part of the United Kingdom. The Defra statistics show that 5,102,000 cases of eggs were packed in England and Wales during the first quarter of 2011 compared with 4,865,000 in the same period last year. A total of 1,062,000 cases of eggs were packed in Scotland during the period compared with 999,000 in the first quarter last year and 690,000 cases were packed in Northern Ireland compared with 633,000 in the same time in 2010.
The percentage split of graded eggs by size shows that during the first quarter of 2011 5.2 per cent of throughput were very large eggs, 44.2 per cent were large eggs, 40.5 per cent were medium eggs and small eggs accounted for 3.1 per cent. Graded seconds accounted for 7.1 per cent of total throughput.
The weighted average packer to producer price of all eggs for the first quarter was 69.7 .
pence per dozen. This was a decrease of 6.9 per cent compared with the same period in 2010. The price for free range eggs was down from 91.3 pence per dozen in the first three months of 2010 to 83 pence in the first quarter of this year. Barn egg prices remained fairly static at 73.4 pence compared with 73.7 pence in the first quarter of last year.
The number of eggs bought by UK processors during the first quarter of 2011 totalled 1.3 million cases. UK egg processors produced nearly 24 thousand tonnes of egg products in the first three months. Liquid and frozen eggs accounted for 65 per cent of the total production, which for quarter one was 15.7 thousand tonnes.
The latest trade data shows that during the period Jan-February 2011, the UK imported 346 thousand cases of shell eggs, a fall of 56 per cent on the same period last year. Exports of shell eggs for the same period totalled 114 thousand cases, which was a 24 per cent increase on the same period during 2010.
UK imports of egg products for the period Jan-February 2011 stood at 401 thousand cases, an 8.3 per cent fall on the same period last year. Exports of egg products for the period Jan-February 2011 totalled 25 thousand cases, which represents a 20 per cent increase on exports during the same period of 2010.
