Poles liked free-range eggs

70% of Poles buy free-range eggs. In recent years, the awareness of this issue among Polish consumers has increased dramatically. As a result, food producers do not use caged eggs. An example is Lubella - the largest pasta producer in Poland. If not free range - Poles also buy barn and organic eggs as an alternative to cage farming.

In the last 5 years, a statistical Pole consumed 130-160 eggs per year. In last year, the consumption of eggs in Poland was 156 eggs per person. However, the level of consumption was lower than a decade ago, when consumption was over 200 eggs per year.

eggs
Beeld: ©A.Murawska

At the moment, more than 140 companies operating in Poland have officially committed to withdraw cage eggs from the production chain or their offer by 2025 at the latest, guided by the expectations of consumers and concern for animal welfare. It becomes a matter of competition on the market and an answer to Polish consumers.

As a result of both food producers and retail chains resigning from cage eggs, the retail price of eggs increased by about 25-35% compared to the previous year.

The consumer has to pay more for eggs as alternative rears (barn or free range) are more costly and less efficient, which must result in a higher price, but most consumers are willing to accept this. In addition, the prices of eggs in Poland may be even higher due to the growing prices of feed (it is estimated that the cost of feeding in poultry is about 65 - 75% of all production costs).

In Poland, approx. 48 million hens are kept in supervised production for the production of consumption eggs. The total supply of eggs from Polish farms is estimated at around 9 billion eggs annually. Of the total eggs produced in our country, about 30% of it is exported. Cage farming accounted for 84.5% poultry farming. In the case of the entire EU, he was responsible for 50.4% farming.

The largest number of laying hen farms are located in the Wielkopolskie and Mazowieckie voivodships - nearly 60% of the total national production.

The greatest revenues for Polish egg producers came from exports to the market of the Netherlands (54 million EUR), the Federal Republic of Germany (39 million EUR), Hungary (19 million EUR) and Italy (15 million EUR).

According to the announcement the era of cage farming in the European Union may end in 2027.

Source: Agrofakt