Industry warns price cut will hurt egg producers

On Sunday 6 March 2011, 18:14 EST

The egg industry hopes consumers will join it in calling for a major supermarket chain to lift its price on free range eggs.

The Australian Egg Industry Association says Coles' recent decision to slash prices is unsustainable and will hurt the local industry.

James Kellaway, the group's executive director, hopes industry and consumer pressure can persuade the chain to reverse the move.

But he has stopped short of calling for a boycott.

"If Australian egg producers want their fresh eggs coming from Australia and not imported, then they should not support these kind of price pressures," he said.

"We need to be careful because as suppliers we need to comply with the Trade Practices Act and trade law.

"They have the market power. All we can do is try and educate them and try and work with Coles. But suffice to say, it is unsustainable at this point in time."

bogarde73 wrote on Mar 7^th, 2011 at 9:36am:


LOL, yep, I can really see consumers protesting for a price rise!

cods, it's pretty simple really, just as it is with milk.
If Coles & Woolies are going to hold the prices down, who will lose out in the end.
The consumer? No, they are getting cheaper prices.
The supermarkets? No, they will continue to make their margins.
The supplier? Yes, because the supermarkets will squeeze them lower or they will source their supplies overseas, which is probably what they want to do anyway. Just like they did with orange juice.

None of this makes sense to me. They still have to buy the eggs and milk from someone. If they sent the farmers broke, they would start running out of the product. By discounting it, they actually increase the sales which is good for dairy farmers.

If it is cheaper from overseas, the farmers are screwed regardless.

I think farmers just like to whinge. Are there any farmers being forced to accept less for their produce because of this?

Who?