Ca
nadia
Cu
ts Im
By ROLLAND E. ANDERSON
Foreign Commodity Analysis,
Dairy and Poultry
Foreign Agricultural Service
Cwada's recent venture into stabi
lizing egg and turkey marketing
is rapidly creating surpluses of these
products, in turn sending shock waves
into its major poultry trading partner—
the United States.
The problem revolves around high
minimum prices offered by Canada's
egg and turkey marketing agencies,
which have discouraged consumption
and encouraged producers to increase
output sharply. So great has been their
expansion, in fact, that storage facili
ties arc bulging with excess stocks—
some of which have had to be de
stroyed—and the Canadian Govern
ment has turned to export incentives
and import quotas to regulate supplies.
These trade moves have directly
affected the United States, sharply
boosting Canadian egg exports to this
country at a time when imports of both
U.S. eggs and turkeys have been re
stricted by quotas.
The difficulties date back to creation
of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency
(CEMA) in mid-1973 and the
Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency
(CTMA) in December 1973, with the
intended purpose of stabilizing markets
for the affected products. Included in
their resulting programs were minimum
producer prices which at times were
some 10-15 cents (per dozen and per
pound, live weight) above US. prices
for eggs and turkeys.
These high prices stimulated produc
tion while pricing Canadian eggs out
of the U S. and other markets
Canadian turkey production through
the first 8 months of this year, for
instance, rose nearly 20 percent above
that of the 1973 period and 27 percent
above the 1969-73 average. This expan
sion—expected to boost total Canadian
turkey production by about 10 percent
in 1974 to 238 million pounds—has
n Turkey and Egg Glut
ports From United States
caused turkey meat stocks to skyrocket.
As of July 1. 1974. poultry meat
stocks were nearly 82 million pounds
—6O percent above those of a year
earlier. Of this. 39.8 million pounds
were turkey meat—more than double
the level of a year earlier. And such
stocks had risen to about 50 million
pounds by August 1974.
Weekly average Canadian egg output
reported by registered stations climbed
by about 4 percent in the first 8 months
of 1974 from the same period of 1973
and by over 9 percent from the 5-year
average. This, in turn, prompted CEMA
to take drastic measures aimed at main
taining high producer prices.
Accordingly, CEMA started buy
ing up “over quota” surplus eggs, then
selling them at a loss to breakers
(processors) in the United States and
Canada.
It has also destroyed large amounts
of stockpiled eggs that were cither too
old or poorly stored. On September 12,
it announced that nearly 28 million
such eggs had been destroyed, at the
same time raising the producer price
and the price of eggs to Canadian
processors. The Canadian Government
also agreed to buy $1.3 million worth
of eggs to donate to the World Food
Program.
Canadian processors attacked these
measures, as well as CEMA’s pol
icy of shipping fresher eggs—because
of export requirements that eggs not be
older than 6 weeks —to the United
States The inference was that CEMA
had allowed eggs to be destroyed and
had heavily supplied the export market
and foreign aid outlet in order to reduce
supply and justify price increases to
breakers.
These were further seen as moves by
CEMA to alleviate financial problems
caused by its stabilization policies. Even
though producer levies to help finance
CEMA operating costs have risen from
about I cent per dozen at the start of
the program to 9 cents, CEMA by end
ot September 1974 had a debt estimated
at around $lO million.
The National Farm Products Market
ing Council, in response to the egg
destruction, announced September 10,
1974, that it had hired an auditing firm
td fcxpand examination of CEMA's poli
cies and marketing programs. In addi
tion, consumers have begun to react,
with the Food Prices Review Board
and the Consumers Association of
Canada spearheading attacks on the
Government egg policy.
Besides their domestic actions, the
marketing organizations had pressed the
Canadian Government to restrict im
ports of eggs and turkeys through
quotas. As a result, the Government
on May 9, 1974, imposed quotas on
imports of shell eggs, powdered eggs,
frozen egg products, turkey parts,
eviscerated whole carcass turkeys, and
live turkeys. The quotas were based on
the average monthly flow of these
products into Canada over the last S
years—levels which arc significantly be
low imports from the United States in
recent years.
The restrictions as worked out called
for the quotas to be triggered when
producer prices for eggs fell to or below
60 cents per dozen, basis Grade A
large, Ontario, and when live turkey
prices fell to or below 37.5 cents per
pound, basis heavy toms. Ontario.
Triggers also were set for prices on the
Holstein Qub
Organized
The organization meeting
of the Lancaster County
Junior Holstein Club was
held on November 12, at 8:00
p.m. at the Farm and Home
Center.
Officers and a board of
directors were elected. They
are as follows; president,
Greg Landis; vice-president,
Russel Kline; secretary
treasurer, Linda Kauffman;
reporter, Gary Akers;
director, Rob Hess; director,
Rick Hess; director, Paul
Horning; director, Joe
Winters.
It was decided that the
directors would meet once a
month and the the entire club
would meet four times a
year. The meetings will be
held on the third Thursday of
January, April, July and
October.
The board will meet on
December 9 at 8:00 p.m. at
the Farm and Home Center
to draw up bylaws and begin
planning activities for the •
coming year.
Anyone interested in
joining the Lancaster County
Junior Holstein Club may
attend the meeting on
January 16,1975 at 8:00 p.m.
at the Farm and Home
Center.
Anyone between the ages
of 9 and 21 and owns at least
one Registered Holstein is
encouraged to become a
Junior Member of the
Holstein Association. For
more information or a
membership application,
contact any of the officers or
directors and attend the
meeting on January 16.
Gary Akers
Reporter
ELECTRIC FENCE
CONTROLLER
REPAIRS
Authorized Factory Service
on Most Shockers
REPAIR THEM NOW
Glerni M. Hoover
Leola RDI, Oregon Pike 17540
' 856-8020
Manufacturers of Kafsfals
Veal Stalls Bale Wagons
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Nov. 16,1974
U.S. side of the border but not pub
lished.
Import permits were to be issued
freely when prices rose above these
triggers, which eventually happened in
the ease of eggs causing import quotas
to be suspended on September 16.
Quotas can be reimposed when the price
relationship between the two markets
changes.
Quotas have not been lifted, how
ever. for turkeys and turkey products.
The quotas have caused U.S. egg and
turkey meat shipments to Canada to
decline drastically since May. U.S. tur
key exports, which had been running
230 percent above those of a year
earlier during January-April 1974,
dropped to only 78 percent of the year
earlier level during May-July 1974.
U.S egg exports were similarly affected.
At the same time, Canadian egg ship
ments to the United States have risen
sharply, averaging about 300,000 to
600,000 dozen per week since May 25,
compared with virtually none between
mid-March and mid-May. In fact, ship
ments to the United States through the
first 8 months of this year were running
at an annual rate of nearly 17 million
dozen, compared with 10.5 million
(valued at $4.7 million) in all of 1973
—an alltime high—and 1 million (val
ued at $300,000) the previous year.
WAYNE gj
USE WAYNE ANIMAL CALF KRUNCH
HEALTH AIDS TO KEEP **•*<**>.
YOUR LIVESTOCK AND u Wtr lH^I H
POULTRY HEALTHY Fnm „„„ //7 „ 0
HERSHEYBROS. J.C. WALKER ROHRER’S MILL
Remholds & SONS R D 1 Ronks
Gap Pa
STEVENS FEED MILL PARADISE SUPPLY JE’MAR FARM
INC. Paradise SUPPLY INC.
Stevens Pa Lawn Ph 964 3444
HAROLD H. GOOD FEEDS INC. WHITE OAK MILL
Terre Hill Leesport Pa R 0 5 Manheim
POWL’S FEED SERVICE MOUNTVILLE DUTCHMAN FEED
R D 2 Peach Bottom FEED SERVICE MILLS, INC.
R D 2 Columbia R D 1 Stevens
BRANDT’S MILL
SADDLERY SHOP H.M. STAUFFER CHARLES E. SAUCER
830 Maple St & SONS, INC &SONS
Lebanon Pa 17042 Witmer RDI, East Earl
VAN-MAR
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