News for the Egg Industry Worldwide
January 2007/Volume 113 Number 1
What 2007 Has in Store: No Shortage
of Challenges and Opportunities 1
Industry News 6
Competition to Egg Products Heats Up 8
Watt 90th Anniversary Section 12
Emerging Egg Technology 25
Industry Calendar 26
Marketplace 26
www.wattpoultry.com
What 2007 Has in Store:
No Shortage of Challenges and Opportunities
Figure 1. Survey: In 2007 will layer numbers?
Decrease
65
Stay the same
49
45
38
2006
2005
2004
2003
13
Increase
22
28
18
20
23
38
42
0
10
20 30 40 50
Percent of respondents
60
70
By John Todd
The New Year of 2006 was ushered in
again with low egg prices and predictions that said they were going
to remain this way all year. The various
committees of the United Egg Producers (UEP) and the American Egg Board
(AEB) addressed the issue continually,
asking producers to cut back with production and hatching of new production.
The UEP’s Nov. 17 United Voices,
however, told the good news story that
a major export order had been obtained
and approved by the Board of Directors of the U.S. Egg Marketers, and this
changed the complexion of the market
in a matter of days. When producers
started to fill the order of 90 container
loads of eggs, prices went from 74 cents
to over $1.05 per dozen and the entire
industry got a big smile on its face.
As an example of the change that took
place, a producer with 1 million layers
enjoyed an $18,000 per day raise by
Nov. 15 over the same number of birds
on Oct. 20. Put another way, shell egg
producers realized a $44,000,000 pay
Producers Optimistic
about 2007 Prices
Producers are optimistic that egg
prices will improve in 2007, according to Egg Industry’s annual survey
of the nation’s egg producers. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they
believe prices will improve, 38%
expect prices will remain the same,
with only 7% expecting weaker prices in 2007 (only 2% said liquid eggs
and processed egg prices would be
lower in 2007).
On expansion, 65% said they expect layer numbers to remain the
same, with 22% looking for numbers to actually be lower, while only
13% said they believe layer numbers
will increase this year.
Over the past 12 months, 10%
of respondents said they have expanded production through new
construction, with 2% saying they
have done so through the acquisition of operations.
The survey also asked participants
to rank issues of importance on a
scale of 1 to 5. Overproduction (too
many birds) topped the list of egg
producer concerns, and has become
a growing concern in recent years
(Figure 5) followed in order by environmental issues, price discovery
issues, bird welfare, and with capital
availability being the least important
issue listed by egg producers.
