Egg producer confidence in the industry 'is gone'
Are Where Their Ifa Returns Exploring Markets Irish Eggs Are Being Export Paid Currently Sell To The Higher That Farmers Has Said
Ireland is only months away from seeing a shortage of eggs that is currently being experienced in the UK as producers exit the sector, with farmers warning that supply could be seriously affected if "inaction" continues.
Despite taking to the picket lines only a number of months ago, Irish egg producers "continue to lose money and people are exiting" the sector, the Irish Farmers' Association has said.
The UK is experiencing a significant issue with supply shortage, with egg production having fallen to its lowest level in nine years, according to the National Farmers Union.
High input costs, poor returns, and disease have had serious implications for the poultry sector there, and in an article on the British Free Range Egg Producers Association website, Matthew Green, managing director of Wot a Pullet, a pullet rearer in the UK, said that the "current supply shortage is set to persist for some time".
"The one-sided power struggle between retailers and producers has led us directly to shortages, despite warnings from the farming community and its representative bodies. This cannot be in anyone’s interest," Mr Green said.
The IFA's poultry vice-chair Brendan Soden said that if there continues to be inaction, he estimates that Ireland could be less than a year behind the UK in experiencing similar shortages and warns that the country could be seriously affected if producers are not supported to continue supplying the Irish market.
The UK also suffered greatly with avian influenza, while Ireland has "been very lucky" with the low number of cases it has had in recent months, Mr Soden said.
"If the bills are there from last year on a farm and you’re carrying them over and you go down with bird flu, it could take years and years to get out of that with credit on feed, credit on birds," Mr Soden added.
IFA poultry chair Nigel Sweetnam has said that Irish farmers are currently exploring export markets to sell their eggs where higher returns are being paid.
"It’s regrettable that Irish farmers should have to consider such actions given the short supply of eggs within the Irish market but financially they are left with no alternative," he added.
"After what has become abundantly clear in the UK egg market and the shortage they face due to inaction, Irish farmers are not prepared to face the same outcome."
While the cost of eggs has gone up on supermarket shelves, there has been a "failure to implement egg producers’ demand" for a fair price, and the portion received by farmers is "abysmal", Mr Sweetnam said.
2022 saw producers hold protests at retailers, demanding that a 2c per egg increase be returned to farmgate from them and the egg packers.
The IFA has said that discount retailers "have responded positively following the protests", but the same "cannot be said" for some other retailers.
Despite discussions on sustainability, farmer incomes, and security of egg supply, egg producers have only received an average of 0.7c per egg out of the 2c they need to cover their costs of production, according to the IFA.
IFA vice-chair Mr Soden told the that margins are "still very tight", and producers "continue to lose money" this year.
He said that the increase of 0.7c "hasn’t even covered what the costs have gone up".
"It’s strange when eggs are scarce globally that the producer here can’t seem to get his costs covered," Mr Soden said.
Latest CSO figures on farm input prices show that in 2022, energy prices rose by over 42% compared to 2021, while feed prices rose by nearly 30%.
Mr Soden said that producers are also now expecting to face a 10% to 15% increase in new pullet prices in the next couple of months.
Retailers and egg packers are "all very aware" of what is required for producers to cover their costs and stay in business, yet there is a lack of willingness "to pass it back to us", he continued.
Egg producers entered 2023 in a "very bad, precarious situation".
"After last year, a lot of people would be carrying more credit now on feed, because they had to take credit to try and carry themselves over," Mr Soden said.
"The bills are coming in bigger for them this year and they’re carrying bills over from 2022 and if 2023 doesn’t improve, how many years can you keep putting all these bills together if you’re not going to get paying them at some stage?
"There comes a point where people are looking at it and saying ‘well I’m getting up and working seven days a week and I’m putting eggs out the door to put on the shelf, but I’m not getting paid for my work, so why am I doing it?’
"People could look at it and say they could get a job down the road and do something else and get a week’s wages out of it but if they stay here on the farm, they’ll get nothing for doing it.
"The whole confidence in industry is gone now at this stage."
1.3c per egg is needed for producers to make up the 2c they have demanded; and "if you look at the shop shelves, eggs have gone up by around 72c a dozen".
Mr Soden said that there is "shock" when customers realise "that they're paying that and we're still looking" for an increased return.
"The others in the chain can take the money or give the money but at the end of it, it’s us producing it and if we’re not there, there’s nobody getting any money up the chain," he added.
Mr Soden said that future protests at retailer outlets are not being ruled out.
"It’s October since we were there before, that’s five months now gone and we’re still in the same boat after a lot of promises being made and things being dragged out," he said.
"That’s the thing, if I have a bill to pay here, I can't say to the electric company ‘just wait five months there and I might have extra money for you’."
