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Toneli preparing bio eggs laid by carefree chickens

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12.03.2003, 00:00 58

The Toneli Group, one of the largest egg producers in Romania, is preparing to set up the first bio egg farm in the country, following a several hundred thousand dollar investment, general manager Eli Joseph Zogheib says.
It is also planning to enter the fowl market soon. Toneli's total investments for this year are estimated to $3-$4 million. Toneli Group last year posted $22 million turnover, up 20% from 2001.
Every poultry farm in the country has until 2007 to rally to the European Union standards, which will require quite serious investments that some of the producers might not afford to make. Subsequently, only half of the 33 farms operating on the market at the moment may still be in business by then, as explained by Zogheib.
"The European standards say the productive hens must be raised on the ground, have access to open air runs and be given chemical-free vegetal food," he said.
The Toneli manager feels that enforcing the European norms would also lead to a 20%-30% price increase and to a 40%-50% productivity drop, due to the larger areas needed to raise the hens. "There will no longer be four hens in a cage, each of them will have one square metre of open air space. Our production will decrease and we will probably lose some money, but this is the future," Zogheib said.
The official egg production in Romania at the moment is of about 5.5 million eggs a month, the Union of Poultry Breeders in Romania says.
"We have a problem, though, because we produce too much in the summer which leads to a 50% price drop, but the prices go up in the winter. The price always goes up in times of holidays, but it is the wholesalers on the market, not us, to blame for this. There are chicken farms out of work and they have to abide by the wholesalers' demands. The issue here is that there is no co-operation between chicken farms, in order to devise a production plan depending on the population," Zogheib added.