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Noble means no choice, says BFREPA
The British Free Range Egg Producers Association
(BFREPA) says that UK free range egg producers will have no choice about where
to market their eggs following the merger of Deans and Stonegate into Noble
Foods.
“A major concern arising from the merger,†writes BFREPA chairman Tom Vesey
in a letter to the Commission, “is the lack of choice producers now face when it
comes to finding an outlet for their eggs.
"Although there are other egg marketing companies in the UK, none of them
are on the scale of Noble Foods or provide the national coverage that Deans or
Stonegate did. Effectively this means that for the overwhelming majority of our
members they have no choice when it comes to finding a market for their eggs as
there are very limited opportunities for direct marketing to retailers.â€
BFREPA's letter does accept that the merger could bring benefits to the
whole egg supply chain by way of improved efficiencies resulting from
cost-savings, which could be passed back to producers. The new company could
also bring improved stability to the free range market, the letter says.
The inquiry was initiated because the
Office of Fair Trading concluded that the creation Noble Foods
could result in a “substantial lessening of competition†within the egg
market.
Editor WorldPoultry
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