An Australian company is preparing to send more than a million eggs every week to Korea, as an outbreak of avian influenza affects their supply overseas.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The shipments will be made up of caged eggs, of which Australia currently has a surplus.
Animal rights activists are furious their efforts to phase out caged egg production have been stalled.
Two major supermarkets in Australia had agreed to phase out the sale of caged eggs while one committed to stocking a range of all eggs.
Animals Australia executive director Glenys Oogjes has labelled the export deal deplorable.
"The confining of hens in wire battery cages is one of the cruellest farming systems endured by animals in Australia today," she said.
"Any commercial deal that would increase the number of hens forced to live in them is deplorable."
Sunny Queen Eggs managing director John O'Hara said there was an oversupply in caged eggs in Australia, which would meet the demand for export.
He said they were being asked to supply a million eggs a day, but "what people are saying and of course what ends up available are two different things".
"We're very conscious of our responsibilities to the Australian market. We're trying to achieve a balanced approach so consumers in Australia won't be affected by our export business," Mr O'Hara said.
The oversupply coincides with the decision by some Australian supermarkets to phase out the sale of caged eggs.
The decision was described by Mr O'Hara as "one of the biggest upheavals that I've ever seen in my lifetime" in the industry.
"I think that ultimately if retailers are listening to their consumers, I believe there will become a more balanced approached to the egg production types required going forward," Mr O'Hara said.
According to the Australian Egg Corporation Limited, the decision to phase out caged eggs "demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of cage egg farming systems and their impact on hen welfare, and flies in the face of consumer demand".
In 2014, Woolworths announced a trial to go 100 per cent cage free in the ACT.
However, citing issues of consumer demand, branded cage eggs had been reinstated in some stores.
Coles, Woolworths and ALDI had all moved away from selling home brand caged eggs.
Both Woolworths and ALDI had announced plans to phase out all caged eggs from their supermarkets by 2025.
"Our goal is to transition to cage-free eggs sustainably and in line with availability of supply, affordability and customer demand by 2025," a Woolworths spokesman said.
A Coles spokesman said their customers "still have the choice to buy branded cage-free, barn-laid, free-range and organic eggs, as well as branded cage eggs".
The Korean export market is expected to dry up as the avian influenza outbreak is contained and the export tariff of about 30 per cent is reinstated.
However Mr O'Hara said he and other producers were working with potential customers in Korea to have the tariff reduced.
"What may end up happening is as we work towards building facilities to free range, we may divert the equivalent amount of caged eggs to the Asian markets," Mr O'Hara said.
