2120 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS TO KEEP LAYING HENS5. Third countriesThe US, Mexico, Brazil, Ukraine and India were selected in conjunction with the DG SANCOSteering Committee for consideration in this project. They represent those third countriesconsidered most likely to be competitive with the EU. Full reports on each of these countries areavailable in Appendix 2. The sub-sections below provide a concise summary and comparison oftechnical factors of production and variable costs for the third countries.5.1. OverviewThe third countries covered are extremely diverse ranging from India and the Ukraine with a highproportion of production (56% in Ukraine) accounted for by small scale production to the UnitedStates where 260 firms account for 95% of all layers. The magnitude of production varies greatlywith the United States having the highest commercial egg output at some 74.4 billion eggs, followedby India at 43.1 billion, Brazil at 14.4 billion and Mexico and Ukraine with some 11.5 billion eggs each.The main characteristic that all these countries share is that the main system for commercialproduction of eggs is caged.The structure of the laying hen sector and consumption in each country goes hand in hand with itslevel of economic development. This means that there is a range from the highly integrated,extremely large scale operations seen in the United States to the relatively fragmented structureseen in the Ukraine with Mexico and Brazil falling between these two extremes. Thus, while thelargest producer in the US has some 21 million hens, the largest in Mexico is estimated to have some9 million hens, the largest in Brazil has some 4 million and in the Ukraine the largest producer wouldprobably have just over 1 million birds. Similarly, while in the Ukraine most packing and the limitedprocessing takes place in relatively small packing stations associated with the production unit, in theUS this will take place in large scale central packing stations owned by the producer.In terms of egg usage the relative sophistication of the markets is reflected in the degree to whicheggs are consumed in processed form and this ranges from well under 1% in the Ukraine to 7% inMexico and over 30% in the United States. Similarly, while in the US the bulk of fresh eggs are soldvia the retail sector, in the Ukraine up to 30% of eggs are still sold via open markets, although this ischanging rapidly.Voluntary measures to improve animal welfare are being undertaken in the US which, inter alia,requires producers to move to a cage size of 555 cm 2 per hen over five years (this is approximatelythree quarters of the space required in enriched cages in the EU from 2012). However, apart fromperhaps in Mexico this issue is seen as being unlikely to be of concern for the foreseeable future inthe other third countries examined.77