May 7, 2008

UK egg production up 2.4 percent in Q1
 

Egg production in the UK rose slightly over the first quarter of the year following a steady decline over the last two years.

According to the latest quarterly Egg Statistics from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, packing station throughput for Q1 reached 6.08 million cases, up 2.4 percent from the last quarter of 2007.

The increase was most significant in England and Wales, while Northern Ireland showed a slight decrease in numbers.

The numbers of cases of free range and organic eggs packed rose significantly, with free range rising from 1.76 million cases to 1.92 million and organic growing from 337,000 cases to 366,000.

In contrast, the number of cases of eggs from laying cages decreased from 3.61 million to 3.58 million.

The number of eggs going to processing continued to go down quarter on quarter, although compared with the Q1 2007, the trade has shown a slight improvement.

Inbound shipments of shell eggs increase slightly in January and then took a 16.3 percent increase in February this year.

Exports increased 44.1 percent in January and 26.2 percent in February.

Imports of egg products increased as well, with a 37.6 percent increase in January and 47.2 growth in February.

While exports of egg products declined by 32.1 percent in January, they rebounded in February with a 27.6 percent rise.