Egg prices boil over

‘‘Why should landlords have to step up to help what is a government problem?’’

The Women’s Refuge was a double-edged sword, she said. While it informed landlords who she was, it also stigmatised her negatively.

She applied for about 20 houses before finding the HNZ property she is currently moving in to.

Finding a place to ‘‘call home’’ was a huge relief. She could now move on with her life and provide muchneeded stability for her children.

Her long-term goal is to run a community based project rehabilitating young Ma¯ori men, teaching them how to love and break the cycle of violence.

As a first step, she is about to start a university degree.

Hutt City Women’s Refuge manager Philippa Wells said Sharon’s case was typical of how difficult it was to find housing. Egg prices have risen 11.84 per cent during the past six months, fuelled by higher feed costs and a switch away from cages to more expensive free range and colony systems.

A dozen eggs now costs an average $4.25, compared with $3.80 last June, and prices look set to rise with new hen housing rules.

While consumers are opting more and more for the non-cage egg variety, even if they are more expensive, the overwhelming majority of eggs being bought are still the caged type.

Countdown sells eggs priced from $3.50 for a caged-egg dozen up to a maximum of $8 for cage-free.

Poultry Industry Association chief executive Michael Brooks said new rules requiring changes from current cages had led to uncertainty for farmers and during the past six months the national flock has reduced by 600,000 hens to 3.6 million.

Based on a hen laying an average of six eggs a week, this amounts to 300,000 dozen fewer eggs a week.

New Zealand’s largest egg producer Zeagold said the industry was frustrated by not being able to get consents for the free-range systems the consumers were demanding.

Foodstuffs head of external relations Antoinette Laird said the latest prices were an average across all types of eggs and reflected what the chain saw in sales. ‘‘Consumers are actively buying more free-range eggs, which naturally cost more.’’

Sixty-nine per cent of supermarket egg sales are from caged hens, but over the past year the variety has shown a 1.8 per cent decline. They have lost ground to barn, free range and organic eggs, which have all grown (11.5, 7.2 and 14.4 per cent, respectively). With 22.6 per cent volume share, free range are most popular behind caged, followed by barn (6.9 per cent), and organic (1.1 per cent).