Double threat to EU egg production

ONE third of EU egg production could be decimated by new EU animal welfare legislation, and by lowering of the border taxes which keep imports at bay.

“The current situation is bordering on disastrous for the EU egg industry”, says P L M van Horne, of the well respected Netherlands Agriculture Economics Research Institute.

The Institute was commissioned by EUWEP, the EU trade association for egg packers, traders and processors, to assess the threat from legislation to improve the welfare of laying hens, which is due to be fully implemented by 2012.