2120 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS TO KEEP LAYING HENSConsumers are therefore polarised into those that select eggs on relative price and those that areprepared to pay a price premium. These consumers consider organic production to be the mostanimal welfare friendly system and there is thus relatively little room in the market for the similar (atleast in the eyes of the consumer) free range system.Denmark used to be a much larger producer of eggs and the world’s leading exporter (in 1970Denmark had around 6.0 million laying hens compared to around 3.5 million thirty years later).However, production has declined significantly to leave Denmark a net importer of both shell eggsand products. The delayed permission to use cages compared to the rest of Europe contributedsignificantly to this decrease. Imports of eggs are drawn from a variety of origins including theNetherlands, Germany and central and eastern European states, some of whom are now members ofthe EU. The evolution in production can be seen in Figure A1.6 which shows total production from1991 to 2003. After generally trending upwards to 1995, egg production then began to decline. Theintroduction of a strict salmonella combat programme has caused a decline from 1995.807060Egg production in million kgs504030201001991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003Figure A1.6: Egg production in Denmark 1991 to 2003Source: Danish Poultry Council.The Danish industry has also become significantly more concentrated over the last thirty years asFigure A1.7 showing the evolution of proportion of flocks by flock size and Figure A1.8 showing theevolution of proportion of laying hens by flock size demonstrate. In 1970 there were no producerswith more than 10,000 laying hens and just over a quarter of laying hens were in flocks of less than99 birds. By 2000, while a greater proportion of laying flocks had less than 99 hens, these producers126