2120 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

APPENDIX 1: MEMBER STATE REPORTSA1.10. NetherlandsA1.10.1. OverviewThe Netherlands will implement the prohibition on egg production in unenriched cage systems setout in Directive 1999/74/EC from 2012 with no plans to ban enriched cage production, althoughsome retailers have already decided not to stock eggs from caged hens. The Netherlands hastraditionally been a significant producer and exporter of eggs and eggs products, although nationalenvironmental legislation now provides an upper limit on production of around 10 billion eggs peryear. While the bulk of Dutch egg production is from the cage system, there is a long tradition ofalternative production driven by market demand.There are around 1,000 specialist egg producers in the Netherlands and 9% of producers have flocksin excess of 50,000 laying hens accounting for half of the national flock. Egg production in theNetherlands is still recovering from the impact of a serious outbreak of Avian Influenza in 2003, butis typically just below the effective ceiling of 10 billion eggs per year.The Dutch packing industry is relatively fragmented with a 4-firm concentration ratio of 48%. Thetop eight egg packers account for 59% of total eggs packed. The processing industry is considerablymore concentrated with a 4-firm concentration ratio of 82% with the top eight processorsaccounting for 98% of total processed production.A1.10.2. Egg productionTotal egg production in the Netherlands is just under 10 billion from a laying flock of around 28.7million laying hens 110 . The main system of production is the traditional cage accounting for aroundthree quarters of the total with barn systems (most of which are deep litter rather than perchery)accounting for just under 15% with the balance in free range systems. There are only a fewproducers using enriched cage systems and a small number with ‘enrichable’ cages.The evolution of total egg production is presented in Figure A1.56 from 1990 to 2001. This showssome fluctuations year to year, but generally production has remained fairly constant between 9.5and 10.0 billion eggs.110 The Eurostat Farm Structures Survey states that there are 42 million laying hens in the Netherlands. This number includes the hensunder 18 weeks of age. The Farm Structure Survey figures show a population of 51 million hens. This number in addition includes thehens producing eggs for broiler production or it represents the housing capacity for laying hens and not the number actually present, thesource is unclear.233