Canadian Egg Production Slips in April

OTTAWA - Jun 8/04 - SNS -- Canadian egg production dropped below both month earlier and year earlier output levels during April, according to the latest report from Statistics Canada.

Egg production was estimated at 45.2 million dozen in April, down 4.5% from April 2003 and down 7.4% from March. Year to date egg production is now 1.6% below year earlier levels.

Poultry meat production reached 87.4 million kilograms in April, up 1.3% from April 2003.

                    Canada -- Egg Production Summary
                              (000 eggs)
                2000       2001       2002       2003       2004
January       46,507     47,520     49,795     48,828     48,729
February      43,486     44,273     44,724     45,062     44,769
March         46,396     47,749     48,438     49,331     48,802
April         44,610     46,264     47,173     47,375     45,236
May           46,545     47,935     48,659     48,688
June          45,199     46,861     47,393     47,147
July          46,692     48,438     49,053     48,628
August        46,380     48,246     48,478     48,586
September     44,996     46,393     46,813     47,497
October       46,341     48,420     48,150     48,172
November      45,435     47,798     47,561     46,926
December      47,106     49,758     49,292     49,200
Jan-Apr      180,999    185,806    190,130    190,596    187,536
Year Total   549,693    569,655    575,529    575,440    187,536
YTD Change     6.71%      2.66%      2.33%      0.25%     -1.61%
Based on Statistics Canada data