2120 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS TO KEEP LAYING HENS5.2. Discussion of technical factorsTable 5.1 compares technical factors of production between the EU-15 weighted average traditionalcage and cage systems in the selected third countries. Only the Ukraine requires more feed per birdper day than the EU-15. However, Ukraine and Brazil have lower egg collection figures meaning thatin feed conversion terms (i.e. feed required to produce a kg eggs) the EU-15 has an advantage overUkraine and has efficiencies which are comparable to Brazil. The mortality figures in the EU-15 arebetter than all the other countries listed (with the exception of India which is the same), althoughpullet costs are by far the highest which will raise EU costs in terms of bird depreciation.Table 5.1: Technical factor comparisonEU-15 USA Brazil Mexico Ukraine IndiaLaying cycle (days) 388 590 453 462 420 365Empty period (days) 22 14 14 60 35 22Feed/bird/year (Kg) 38.83 35.52 37.80 31.99 39.81 37.00Feed/bird/day (g) 112 100 107 99 118 101Eggs/bird/year (collected) 280 280 275 250 237 283Kg feed per kg eggs 2.22 2.04 2.20 2.02 2.69 1.97Mortality (%) 6.0% 10.3% 8.7% 6.3% 7.0% 6.0%Number of hens managed/ labourer 36,461 138,700 14,000 160,000 12,500 3,750Hens housed per m 2 house 78 111 66 30 n.a.Space allowance per hen per cm 2 534 345 454 495 n.a.Pullet cost (€) 3.17 2.10 1.52 1.62 1.68 2.10End of lay hen weight (Kg) 1.50 1.54 1.71 1.70 1.75 1.60End of lay hen price (€/bird) 0.18 0.00 0.17 0.50 0.78 0.81Notes:1Exchange rates used: € = US$1.1920, R$ 3.7772, Mex$ 9.2279, INR 55.82Source: Agra CEAS Consulting calculations and industry estimates.5.3. Discussion of variable costsFigure 5.1 presents a comparison between the EU-15 weighted average variable costs from thetraditional cage system, the EU-15 weighted average including all systems and cage system variablecosts from the selected third countries. The import tariff for shell eggs and transport costs wouldneed to be added to these production costs to determine whether eggs produced in the thirdcountries are currently competitive with EU-15 caged production.Variable costs are lowest in the US and India and highest in Brazil. However, even in Brazil thevariable cost amounts to just 67% of the average EU-15 caged variable cost and 65% of the weightedaverage variable cost for all systems.78