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.
