The value of eggs purchased in Italy through the main retail channels rose by 15% last year, a record increase. Consumers continued to turn away from eggs produced in enriched cages, favoring instead eggs deemed to be from production systems with higher health or welfare attributes, reports the country’s institute of agri-food services (ISMEA).
In contrast to this 15% jump in value, the number of eggs sold through retailers rose by only 1.7%, revealing how, as elsewhere, Italian consumers' tastes are changing.
As in previous years, demand for cage eggs continued to contract in 2018 as more retailers and food producers switched, or pledged to switch, more of their sourcing away from caged production and looked to other production methods,
Free-range and organic eggs accounted for only 11% of total eggs produced last year, with the remainder barn eggs. Among large retailers, which account for 88% of sales, free-range eggs made up only 3% of total sales last year, but the segment grew by 25%.
All change
Consumers are not only increasingly demanding higher standards, but where they purchase eggs is also changing.
Supermarkets continued to be the dominant sales channel last year, according to ISMEA, accounting, by volume, for 37% of all eggs sold, and witnessed an increase in egg sales of 2.4%. However, it was in hypermarkets where growth was strongest. Accounting for 22% of the market, egg sales via hypermarkets grew by 5.7%. Within the discount channel, sales were up by 0.2%, while in grocery stores, sales contracted by 3.6%.
2018’s growing interest in higher-value eggs comes after the difficulties experienced in the Italian egg market in 2017, where concerns over possible fipronil contamination and avian influenza had a negative impact on consumer confidence and egg supplies. Output is thought to have contracted in both years.
Enriched cages dominate
Italy is the European Union’s fourth-largest egg producer, coming in behind France, Germany and Spain.
The main egg production method in the country is still enriched cages, accounting for 55% of eggs produced, and slightly higher than the European Union average of 53%. Less than half, however, of these eggs are directly consumed, given that it is cage eggs that are primarily used as ingredients by the food industry.
2018 saw Italy produce 122.2 billion eggs for consumption last year, or close to 772,000 tons, worth EUR1 billion (US$1.13 billion).
The country is home to 38.9 million laying hens housed across 1,800 commercial farms. The two regions of Veneto and Lombardy, in the north of the country, account for more than 50% of production.
Per capita egg consumption in Italy is slightly below the European average. If eggs consumed as part of other products are considered along with direct consumption, per capita consumption stands at 208 eggs per year.
