Supermarkets deny blame for egg price fall

British Free Range Egg Producers Association chairman John Retson has warned that “egg production will stall” if supermarkets do not put up their prices and help stem the losses being suffered by primary producers.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Farming Today programme he explained that free-range egg producers were losing £3 a bird – equivalent to an annual loss of over £30,000 for a 12,000-bird unit – as a result of the excess supply of eggs, the subsequent drop in prices and the sharp rise in feed costs.

Packers and producers needed an extra 15p/doz from the supermarkets to avoid a collapse in production over the next six months, he said. Failure to do so would lead to business closures, a scarecity of eggs and, ultimately, would mean consumers would be facing a far higher price rise than 15p/doz.

“If we can sit around a table (with retailers) and discuss raw material prices, we could maybe curtail the consumer increases and make sure the primary producer starts to make money,” said Mr Retson.

But retailer representative Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium said supermarkets were not to blame and producers should be asking what other buyers in the wholesale, catering and hospitality sectors were doing.

“Retailers do take full responsibility for their chains,” he said. “Not only are they paying a sustainable price, they are helping to promote free-range egg sales, working with customers to promote the sector generally.”

He explained that there was not always a link between retail prices and the cost of production, but claimed that retailers were subsidising a record number of promotions to get customers into their stores “with no impact on the farmer”.

“Their discussions with farmers and packers are there to make sure they are in it for the long run,” said Mr Opie. “Retailers know farmers and packers need to be rewarded for what they do. They recognise things like the rise in feed costs. They recognise that farmers need to be paid a sustainable price.”

Many were paying this, but other players in the egg market had seen the surplus and dropped prices.