2120 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS TO KEEP LAYING HENSA1.4. FinlandA1.4.1. OverviewFinland will implement the prohibition on egg production in unenriched cage systems set out inDirective 1999/74/EC from 2012. Finland produces just under a billion eggs from around 1,700producers, around a 1,000 of whom have more than 100 hens and are considered commercial. Thevast majority of Finnish eggs are produced in caged systems.The egg industry in Finland is dominated by Munakunta, a packing company owned by a co-operativeof producers. Munakunta accounts for more than half of Finnish egg production and has two mainegg packing operations. In total there are ten central packing stations (some of which also ownproduction units) with around a further 150 producer/packers. Producer packers account for lessthan 15% of eggs packed. Whilst Munakunta employs a contract system for egg procurement anddoes not own production facilities, other packers tend to have looser arrangements. Some of theseother packers are co-operatively owned by producers whilst some are privately owned. The largestprivately owned packer, Farmimuna Oy, has around 100,000 hens and uses some contractproduction.There are two main egg processors in Finland, the largest of which is Scanegg, a subsidiary ofMunakunta and therefore ultimately producer-owned. Farmimuna Oy also carries out someprocessing.A1.4.2. Egg productionThe Finnish egg industry is located in the south-west of the country, although there is someproduction in the east. This production tends to be packed on farm and is for local shell egg marketsand is not considered to be a main part of the industry. Most of these eastern producers are smallscale with up to 1,000 laying hens.Total egg production in Finland was 59 million kg in 2003 (944 million eggs 62 ). There are two mainproduction systems used in Finland. The vast majority of eggs are produced in traditional cageswhich account for 86% of laying hens. The deep litter system accounts for just over 10% of layinghens with a residual 4% of laying hens being managed organically. As at February 2004, less than 1%(six producers) are believed to be using enriched cages and their output is sold as traditional cagedproduction. There is no free range production because of the climate.Prior to joining the EU Finland had a significant degree of surplus production which was encouragedby the government’s use of export subsidies. This system came to an end on accession (with atransition period) and egg production declined dramatically as many farmers went out of business ormoved out of egg production. This process of consolidation is still in evidence with around 20%62 At a conversion rate of 62.5 grams per egg.145