August 18, 2009

 

Australia consumers move away from cage eggs

 

 

Eggs from caged chickens are losing popularity to eggs from ban-raised and free range chickens, said a spokesman from Woolworths, the largest supermarket chain in Australia.

 

Woolsworths fresh food GM Michael Batycki said the chain is reducing the number of cage-egg brands it sells from 15 to 11. The move is expected to speed up a consumer-driven switch to free-range and barn-laid products, which has seen cage eggs lose market share.

 

Woolsworth sells 28 barn-laid and free range brands. Consumers are buying more of these brands despite the higher cost, he said.

 

Batycki said the move would mean more competitive prices and allow price-conscious shoppers to switch from cage eggs, and the egg industry may gradually stop using cages in the future.

 

The Australian Egg Corporation (AEC) agreed prices for free-range and barn-laid would fall if demand rose, but said they would never reach the low prices provided by cage eggs.

 

James Kellaway, GM of AEC, said that it is for this reason that news of the cage industry's demise was premature.

 

The market share of free range eggs is growing but it is unlikely to phase out cage eggs, said Kellaway, adding that about 80 percent of the 13 million laying hens in Australia are kept in cages.

 

According to The Advertiser, the market share of free-range and barn-laid eggs is up to 31 percent from 17 percent in 2000.