Noble Foods has dampened speculation that it is looking to take on new producers.
Rumours reaching the Ranger magazine suggested that Noble was looking to open its books again, but Martin Troop has squashed those rumours by saying that there is unlikely to be any new expansion before the end of next year. "There is still plenty of egg out there at the moment," said Martin.
Earlier this year Noble, Stonegate and other major packers closed their books to new producers in response to the egg market becoming over-supplied. BFREPA chairman John Retson had earlier called on the industry to take control of the number of new free range egg producers coming into the business. Although the over-supply in the market is expected to be temporary, producers have seen the price they receive for their eggs fall as a result of the current imbalance.
There have been suggestions that Noble is planning for expansion again, but Martin Troop told us, "Any expansion there would be would be towards the back end of next year and into 2012. It would be controlled and it would be from producers on our current waiting list. Any expansion will only commence on our written agreement When it happens, we will start to engage in dialogue with specific producers of our choice."
Martin insisted that expansion would only come when the time was right and the company had plenty of capacity to provide that expansion amongst the producers already on its waiting list.
