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The World Egg Industry - a few facts and figures
The International Egg Commission (IEC) has members in over 50 egg-producing countries throughout the world. Its members include egg producers, egg packers, egg traders and egg processors, accounting for approximately 80% of world egg production.
10 facts on the World Egg Industry
- It is estimated that there are 4.93 billion egg-laying hens in the world.
- Approximately 800-1,000 million laying hens are kept in China, 276 million in the USA, 290 million in the 15 member states of the European Union, 133 million in India, 115 million in Mexico.
- Today’s laying hens are each capable of producing over 300 eggs per hen per year.
- An estimated 53.4 million tonnes of table eggs were produced during 2002.
- China is the world’s largest egg producer (20.25 million tonnes during 2002).
- Until recently, the Netherlands was the world’s largest egg exporting country. If intra-EU trade is excluded, the USA is the world’s largest exporting country.
- Germany is the world’s largest egg importing country.
- During recent years, there has been significant growth in the use of egg products, i.e. eggs which have been taken out of their shell (liquid/frozen yolk, albumen, egg blends, ready made omelettes, etc). This reflects the increase in the number of meals eaten out of the home.
- Egg consumption per capita per annum varies from country to country i.e. in 2002, Mexico = 321, USA = 255, France = 248, Portugal = 186, India = 40.
- The colour of the egg shell is directly influenced by the breed of the hen. Approximately 50% of eggs produced in the world are brown and 50% are white.
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