At last we have a new Government appointed or should I say Governments and as you can imagine they will be setting off like a new broom working together solving all our country's problems and probably creating some new ones for us to contend with.

As your Chairman I did say way back in December 2009 that I would look closely at free range bird numbers and try my best to give our members some information on the UK flock going forward.

Our Industry has been challenged to expand as we all know, due to consumers demanding more welfare friendly methods of producing eggs and of course the EU Directive that only enriched cages will be allowed in the UK and the EU after January 2012.

At one point we thought the expansion required was going to be an impossible task to achieve due to the total capital investment required – was there going to be enough eligible land available – was there going to be enough people in our Industry including new farmer entrants to achieve this expansion coupled with many sheds having to de-stock due to government legislation from 11.7 birds per square metre birds down to 9 b...

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see all chairman's comments...

Feed Mill Report

Buying raw materials a decade ago was a more straightforward process than today. Wheat went up £1/month, and buyers fought for every 25p, to ensure they could secure a margin. Currency was always in the background, supply and demand figures were hotly contested, and the occasional strike, outbreak of war or oil crisis created short term spikes.

Then the London wheat futures markets became entangled and interlinked with Chicago and Paris, and currency became a major issue; the resulting uncertainties became attractive to fund managers, and so soft commodities became an 'asset class' which were used to hedge against inflation.

Then biofuels came onto the scene, competing with the food markets to buy soya to make biodiesel, and cereals to make bioethanol. At first it was only an American problem, now we have one UK bioethanol plant being commissioned with another two in construction which will use about 3mt of UK wheat/annum.

At the same time China, a massive population with an aspirational diet and increasing wealth, has monopolised most of the world's freight, and became the world&#...

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see past Feed Mill's...

LIFFE/Euronext

London Feed WheatParis Milling WheatParis CornParis Rapeseed

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CBOT (Day)

SoybeansSoymealSoyoilCornWheat

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eCBOT (Night)

SoybeansSoymealSoyoilCornWheat

Loading Market Data

Energy/FOREX

NYMEX Crude OilGBP/USD

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UK Eggs Set

Broilers GB Broilers NI Broilers UKBroiler Breeders UK Layers UKTurkeys E & WTurkeys UK

Loading Market Data

Chick & Poult Place

Broilers GB Broilers NI Broilers UK Layers UKTurkeys E & WTurkeys UKFemale Broiler breed

Loading Market Data

UK Egg Trade

Shell Eggs - Import Egg Products - Import Shell Eggs - Export Egg Products - Export

Loading Market Data

EU Broiler

Spain France Netherlands Germany Poland UK * Rest of EU (a) EU Total(a)

Loading Market Data

EU Layer

Germany Spain France Netherlands Italy Poland UK * Rest of EU (a) EU Total(a)

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Egg Processing data

Total UK Liquid & Frozen Hard Boiled Eggs Other Product Total

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Fertiliser Prices

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Average Pullet Price

Pullet Rearers in the UK

Tom Barron Ltd Catforth, Preston, Lancashire PR4 0HQ Tel 01772 690111

Country Fresh Pullets Morton, Oswestry, Shropshire SY10 8BH Tel 01691 831020

J. S. R. Services Ltd 3 Isla Road, Altamount Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland PH10 6RR Tel 07831 541703

Blue Barns Hatchery Ouston Villa Farm, Pelton, Chester-le-Street, County Durham DH2 1LN Tel 0191 410 2809

Hinchliffes Sunnyside Farm, Netherton Moor Road, Huddersfield West Yorkshire Tel 01484 661231

Noble Foods Ltd The Moor, Bilsthorpe, Notts NG22 8TS Tel 01623 870384

Potters Poultry Willey Fields Farm, Willey, Rugby, Warwickshire CV23 0SQ Tel 01455 553234

Peter Dodds Pullets Hillside Poultry Farm Newmarket Road Royston, Herts Tel 01763 243667

Allan Hood Shootash Poultry Farm Salisbury Road Shootash, Romsey, Hampshire SO51 6GA Tel 01794 522159

M.J. Hayward & Sons Green Farm, North Gorley, Fordingbridge, Hants SP6 2PB Tel 01425 652007

Fridays Ltd Chequer Tree Farm, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 3PN Tel 01580 710200

Farm Fresh Hatcheries Ltd 132 Blackgate Lane, Tarleton, Preston Lancs PR4 6UU Tel 01772 814081

Jansen UK Leighbridge Works, Calverleigh, Tiverton. Devon EX16 8BE Tel 01884 243135

Secure contract before investment as packers close books	Organic still declining
No similarity with dairy industry	Restoring trust in food labelling

Secure contract before investment as packers close books

Organic still declining

No similarity with dairy industry

Restoring trust in food labelling

Lion campaign proves successful A campaign to promote Lion Quality egg products seems to be proving successful, with a number of new suppliers adopting the Lion code, an active marke...

Organic report confirms slump A report by the Soil Association confirms that organic sales slumped in 2009 after more than a decade of consistent growth. Sales of organic food, dri...

The importance of pullet performance The Free Range sector has seen accelerating expansion in recent years. The banning of conventional cages by 2012, combined with changing...

Restoring trust in food labelling The agricultural industry needs to restore trust in food labelling. That was one of the messages to emerge from the headline debate at this year's...

Lower soya prices predicted There was good news for egg producers at the Pig and Poultry Fair, with a prediction of lower soya prices in the year ahead. Producers will be hoping ...

No similarity with dairy industry The egg industry was very different to the dairy industry, said Stonegate's Richard Kempsey when he was asked whether there was any danger that eg...

Organic still declining Organic egg producers who are hoping for an end to falling demand will find no comfort in the views of Sainsbury's poultry buyer David Whiffen.

Secure contract before investment as packers close books The future continues to look bright for free range eggs. Free range could account for as much as 50 per cent of production by the end of this year and...

Freedom Food assessment vital before increasing stocking density The first Freedom Food producers have already taken advantage of the RSPCA's acceptance of increased external stocking densities – and early indic...

Natural England to consult farmers on sea eagles plan Natural England has now agreed to consult farmers about its controversial plans to introduce Sea Eagles into Suffolk. We reported in Ranger in O...

LIFFE/Euronext

London Feed WheatParis Milling WheatParis CornParis Rapeseed

CBOT (Day)

SoybeansSoymealSoyoilCornWheat

eCBOT (Night)

SoybeansSoymealSoyoilCornWheat

Energy/FOREX

NYMEX Crude OilGBP/USD

UK Eggs Set

Broilers GB Broilers NI Broilers UKBroiler Breeders UK Layers UKTurkeys E & WTurkeys UK

Chick & Poult Place

Broilers GB Broilers NI Broilers UK Layers UKTurkeys E & WTurkeys UKFemale Broiler breed

UK Egg Trade

Shell Eggs - Import Egg Products - Import Shell Eggs - Export Egg Products - Export

EU Broiler

Spain France Netherlands Germany Poland UK * Rest of EU (a) EU Total(a)

EU Layer

Germany Spain France Netherlands Italy Poland UK * Rest of EU (a) EU Total(a)

Egg Processing data

Total UK Liquid & Frozen Hard Boiled Eggs Other Product Total

Fertiliser Prices

Fertiliser

Lion campaign proves successful

A campaign to promote Lion Quality egg products seems to be proving successful, with a number of new suppliers adopting the Lion code, an active marke...

Organic report confirms slump

A report by the Soil Association confirms that organic sales slumped in 2009 after more than a decade of consistent growth. Sales of organic food, dri...

The importance of pullet performance

The Free Range sector has seen accelerating expansion in recent years.

The banning of conventional cages by 2012, combined with changing...

Restoring trust in food labelling

The agricultural industry needs to restore trust in food labelling. That was one of the messages to emerge from the headline debate at this year's...

Lower soya prices predicted

There was good news for egg producers at the Pig and Poultry Fair, with a prediction of lower soya prices in the year ahead. Producers will be hoping ...

No similarity with dairy industry

The egg industry was very different to the dairy industry, said Stonegate's Richard Kempsey when he was asked whether there was any danger that eg...

Organic still declining

Organic egg producers who are hoping for an end to falling demand will find no comfort in the views of Sainsbury's poultry buyer David Whiffen.

Secure contract before investment as packers close books

The future continues to look bright for free range eggs. Free range could account for as much as 50 per cent of production by the end of this year and...

Freedom Food assessment vital before increasing stocking density

The first Freedom Food producers have already taken advantage of the RSPCA's acceptance of increased external stocking densities – and early indic...

Natural England to consult farmers on sea eagles plan

Natural England has now agreed to consult farmers about its controversial plans to introduce Sea Eagles into Suffolk.
We reported in Ranger in O...