Canadian Egg Marketing Agency (CEMA)
CEMA is a national marketing agency run by a 15-member board of directors. The board comprises 11 representatives from the provincial and territorial commodity boards, three representatives from the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council (CPEPC), and one representative from the Consumers' Association of Canada (CAC). CEMA elects a chairperson each year from its own membership. CEMA was created in 1972.
Operations
CEMA manages Canada's supply of eggs for consumption. Each year, it estimates what the table and processing markets will need and establishes a national quota that respects Canada's international trade agreements. The agency implements this national quota order upon the NFPC's approval. It allocates this quota between the provincial and territorial boards using criteria set out in a federal-provincial-territorial agreement. Then these boards allot quotas to registered producers.
Producers sell their eggs to grading stations. Then the grading stations sell them to wholesalers, retailers and the hotel, institutional and restaurant trade. When the grading stations have more eggs than they need for their shell egg markets, they sell the excess eggs to the provincial or territorial commodity boards. CEMA buys these eggs and sells them to egg processors, who process them into liquid, frozen or powdered form.
Pricing
Each provincial and territorial egg board sets prices for producers within its jurisdiction, using CEMA's cost-of-production formula. The grading stations pay these prices to producers and then sell these eggs to wholesalers, retailers and the hotel, restaurant and institutional sector at negotiated prices.
CEMA sells eggs to processors based on U.S. processor prices. It uses levies to make up the difference between this price and the price it pays to provincial boards.
Funding
CEMA pays its own way through levies on all eggs produced by registered egg producers.
More info
Visit the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency at http://www.canadaegg.ca.
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