Between 2000 and 2012, world egg production increased by 28.4 percent or an average rate of 2.4 percent per year (Figure 1). In 2012, almost 1,230 billion eggs were produced from a laying flock of approximately 6.8 billion hens. In fact, over 90 percent of global egg production comprises eggs from hens.
Of more than 66 million metric tons of eggs produced worldwide, the Asia-Pacific region currently contributes more than 38 million metric tons, or about 59 percent (Figure 2). Europe supplies nearly 11 million metric tons or 16.25 percent of the global total; North America produces approximately 6 million metric tons or 9 percent; South America supplies over 4 million metric tons, or 6.5 percent; and Africa produces almost 3 million metric tons, or 4.25 percent. Just five countries provided 55 percent of the world's eggs in 2012, while the top 10 supplied 65 percent and the top 15 countries provided 70 percent of all eggs.
China and the United States remained the top egg-producing countries again in 2012. According to the National Statistics Bureau, China produced 28.1 million metric tons of eggs of all types, equivalent to about 562 billion eggs; in 2012, the country's all-eggs production increased by 1.8 percent to 28.61 million metric tons or about 572 billion eggs (Table 1). A report shows 80 percent of China's egg production is concentrated in 10 of its 34 provincial districts. Egg production in China is projected to increase by 2 percent per year through 2017 (Figure 3).
In the U.S., domestic production of table eggs increased to 80.66 billion in 2012 from 79.1 billion in 2011. U.S. all-eggs total production in 2012 was nearly 93 billion, and an increase of 2.2 percent is projected for all-eggs production in the U.S. in 2013. The table-eggs production total for 2013 is expected to reach 82.27 billion, after production in the first six months of the year was up by 2 percent to 40.8 billion eggs (Figure 4). The size of the national table-egg laying flock in June 2013 averaged 288 million birds, some 1.8 percent more than in the same period in 2012.
New layer housing requirements affect EU egg production, prices
Production of 99.3 billion eggs in 2012 would rank the European Union in second place globally if it counted as a single location. With the number of countries belonging to the EU increasing to 28 with the addition of Croatia in 2013, 2012 egg production in the EU-27 region represented a year-on-year decrease of 2.5 percent. The decline in European egg production is attributed to new layer-housing legislation that took effect, requiring investment to convert cages while producer margins were poor (Table 2). International Egg Commission economist, professor Hans-Wilhelm Windhorst, speaking at the 2013 International Production & Processing Expo in Atlanta, said the EU ban on conventional layer cages caused a loss of egg production in Germany that required eggs for consumption to be imported, as well as forced many farms into foreclosure and required some time to recover for the egg industry.
Despite new hen housing requirements, Germany still produced 12.8 billion eggs in 2012, securing its position as the largest producer in the EU. France took second place, producing 12.5 billion eggs in 2012, while Italy came in third for egg production (10.8 billion) and Spain fourth (10.6 billion), followed by the Netherlands (10.2 billion), the UK (10.1 billion) and Poland (9.3 billion).
Over the past decade to 2012, EU overall egg production fell at an average rate of 0.8 percent per year. But, some EU member states produced more in 2012 than in 2002. For example, in the Netherlands, output was higher by an amount averaging 0.8 percent per year and Poland's 10-year expansion of egg production represented an average annual growth rate of 2.1 percent. In new EU member state Finland, statistics showed that the volume of barn eggs produced in 2012 was 10 percent more than in 2011, whereas cage egg production declined by 18 percent. Finland during this period also saw a 50 percent increase in the production of organic eggs.
Japan was the world's fourth-largest national egg producer in 2012, with 135.5 million laying hens on 2,810 units. This compared with 137.35 million birds on 2,930 sites in 2011. The peak year for layer numbers was 2007, with 142.77 million, while the number of egg-producing sites has dropped steadily from 4,340 in 2003.
India's production of 65.48 million eggs in marketing year 2011-12 compared with 63.024 million in 2010-11. As recently as 2000-01, production had been only 36,632 eggs.
Mexico in 2012 produced 2.46 billion table eggs from 2.756 million layers, despite suffering from outbreaks of avian influenza. Mexico's World Federation of United Nations Associations estimated the weight of eggs produced in 2012 at 2.386 million metric tons and suggested that restocking after the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak could allow a recovery to 2.3 million metric tons in 2013. However, a full recovery in the near future seems less likely as the country continues to suffer from outbreaks of avian influenza in 2013 and presently remains an importer of eggs from the U.S.
