Friday, January 20, 2012

Record egg surplus


Despite evidence that there were plenty of locally-produced eggs in Ontario in late November and early December, grading stations are declaring a record volume of surplus eggs to go to breakers.

All of those eggs cost egg farmers money because they cover the price gap between “table-market” Grade A eggs sold at supermarkets and “industrial-market” eggs that are broken and processed.

Canada’s largest egg-grading companies are also the largest egg-processing companies.

They have also been the main importers of United States eggs in the weeks leading up to Christmas, apparently able to convince the federal government that there aren’t enough Canadian eggs to meet market demand.

According to the Egg Farmers of Canada national marketing agency, so far this year the grading stations have declared 170,158 boxes of surplus eggs, 15 dozen per box.

That compares with 127,912 boxes at this point last year, a total so great that there wasn’t enough processing capacity to keep up with the supply.

The year before, in 2010, the total was 120,248 boxes.

The processing companies and the national egg agency are at an impasse, trying to negotiate new terms for dealing with these surplus eggs.

So far the Farm Products Council of Canada, to which the egg agency filed an appeal, has not stepped in to force a settlement. It has told the two sides to try to come to an agreement.

Too bad the council didn't act before egg farmers faced the bills to pay for yet another record volume of surplus eggs. And too bad the staff at the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board couldn't find the Ontario-produced eggs that would have kept the supplementary-import-permit eggs from entering.