Cal-Maine Foods, a fresh egg producer based in Mississippi, US, has reported a loss of $74.3 million in the last year.
Their fourth quarter financial results, for which the 53 week period ended on 3rd June 2017, are a disappointment for the company, and CEO Dolph Baker said: “The egg markets have been affected by increased production levels as producers repopulated their flocks after the 2015 avian influenza (AI)-related laying hen losses, and the younger, more productive hen population has produced a higher number of eggs.
“Overall, market demand trends have not kept pace with these production levels.”
Said market demand trends definitely have a more specific root — the rise of veganism has been huge in recent times and there are an increasing number of people refusing to consume animal products. It was recently reported that veganism in the US is up 600 per cent in three years and is a likely factor in the egg producer seeing sales fall.
Baker realises this, and says that vegan alternatives to egg such as tofu are driving egg prices down by “exacerbating the oversupply”.
Plant-based food is fast becoming more widely recognised as the way forward for maintaining a healthy and ethical lifestyle, which poses economic problems for companies such as Cal-Maine, with Baker describing the current market for eggs as “challenging”.
[…] This follows the news this month that egg producer sales are down by 74 million dollars. […]