Allister speaks up for egg industry
25 October 2004
Following a meeting with representatives of the British Egg Industry Council in Brussels City today, DUP MEP Jim Allister QC said,"Once more an EU Directive and EU concessions in the World Trade Talks are posing substantial threat to the future of a critical British industry, namely egg production."
In 1999, a Directive setting down minimum standards for laying hens stipulated that the use of conventional cages would be banned from 1 January 2012 and thereafter only enriched cages or non-cage systems would be legal.The cost of this change-over is immense and is now added to by the threat posed by the likely reduction in import tariffs, flowing from the current World Trade
The unfairness of the developing situation is that the countries now being proffered reduced import tariffs are countries, like India, where animal welfare standards are much lower than those imposed on EU countries.
Together these two factors are going to rob EU produced eggs of their competitive edge and make them no match for cheap imports, particularly of egg powder products from Ukraine,Brazil and India. Local egg producers will be the losers, both to these non EU producers but also to Poland which is a major player in egg production, but has the benefit of notably cheaper production costs.
I am therefore urging the Government to argue in the promised mid-term review of the 1999 Directive, that the start date of 2012 for the new cage regime should be postponed, given the threat to the industry posed by reduction in import tariffs and the practical impossibility of delivering the transition to enriched cages in the time remaining till 2012.
In my book, it should be a primary duty of the UK Government to defend the vital interests of this indigenous industry.
