he baking industry could soon have to pay higher prices for eggs, after comments from the agriculture minister.
Jim Paice wants to see all foreign egg producers banned from imported cheap eggs produced by hens in conventional laying cages.
The European Union has set a target of January 1st next year for the eradication of caged-hen eggs, but Mr Paice believes that while the UK will be ready, up to 30 per cent of producers in other countries will not.
He therefore wants to see those producers that do not meet the deadline banned from selling their stock in the UK – a loss of market competition that could see egg prices rise.
"What we want to see within Europe is an intra-community ban, so that any countries that have not converted should be banned from exporting their eggs out of their own country," Mr Paice said.
Firms in the baking industry were recently boosted by the news that wheat prices should stop rising and stabilise in 2011, according to the UN's food agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Typical Guttridge equipment used in the baking industry includes:
