EGG PRICES

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28524, 1 March 1958, Page 16

EGG PRICES

Sales By Weight Discussed

“Calculated on a poundage basis, pullet grade egg prices have no relation to standard grade egg prices. This is a .normal procedure at this time of the year,” said the marketing executive officer of the New Zealand Poultry Board (Mr M. K. Cowdrey) in a reply to a letter to the editor of “The Press.”

The correspondent, “Just Curious,” wrote: — “Could the Price Tribunal or the Egg Marketing Board tell us why eggs cannot be sold at per lb the same as other commodities. We have four grades of eggs selling at prices which, as far as I can figure, have no relation to weight. Pullets’ eggs at 2s lOd a dozen on the average weight of l|oz an egg equal roughly 2s 6|d per lb. Standard grade at 5s a dozen on an average of 2oz an egg represent 3s 4d per lb. As there is no difference in the quality of the two grades why the difference in the price per lb? Apart from this anomaly, were eggs sold per lb the producer would get a fair return for his product; it costs as much to feed a pullet as a fowl; and the consumer would get what he pays for. Also, overhead would be reduced as eggs would not need to be regraded and repacked and the time lag between producer and consumer could be considerably less, therefore fresher eggs.” Mr Cowdrey said: "With the young birds now coming into lay, a large proportion of receipts tend towards the pullet grade egg. On a weight basis comparable with standard grade, pullet grade eggs at l|oz an egg should be 3s 9d a dozen, but have been reduced to 2s 10s a dozen. Although pullet grade eggs are all top quality, consumers appear to prefer the larger egg, and to encourage sales the price of pullet grade eggs in relation to other grades have consequently been reduced.” Earlier Investigations The selling of eggs by weight had been investigated on several occasions, but rejected on the ground that consumers prefered uniformity in size, which would not be the case if a normal production run was packed in the same carton, Mr Cowdrey said. “Each pack of eggs would differ in price because of the weight variation, and retailers are opposed to this method of selling because of the need to have the price of each carton calculated on computing scales. Their difficulties would increase considerably if eggs were sold in loose form and each sale of three, six or a dozen eggs had to be weighed in paper bags and priced,” he said. Mr Cowdrey added that all eggs were not only graded by weight, but also each individual egg was tested' for quality before being packed in one dozen egg cartons.