World egg consumption and egg production are rising to meet growing demand, reaching nearly 80.1 million metric tons in 2017, an increase of nearly 25% from 10 years prior based on the most recent estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). China remains the top egg-producing country, contributing nearly 529 billion eggs, along with the U.S., India, Mexico and Brazil.
US egg data
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects the U.S. is on track to produce 9,410 million dozen eggs for 2019. Since recovering from avian influenza, the U.S. egg industry is continuing to grow slowly; USDA projects that, after producing nearly 90 million eggs about a decade ago, the country is estimated to have produced more than 109 million eggs in 2018. The country’s layer numbers have recovered, too. The U.S. layer flock is estimated by USDA at a little more than 391 million for 2018, compared with a low over the past decade of 336 million in 2015.
U.S. egg consumption is forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to be nearly 280 eggs per person in 2019, making it the highest egg consumption level over the past decade. In the short term, the USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report estimates the total number of eggs consumed in the U.S. in 2019 at 7,951.8 million dozen and reaching over 8,000 million dozen in 2020, with per capita consumption in 2019 at 289.7 eggs. In terms of number of eggs, USDA projects consumption rising from 7,507 million dozen in 2017 to 8,719 million dozen by 2028.
Egg production in other parts of the world
Egg production growth, although modest, is expected to continue in Europe, as well. Forecasts from the European Commission have egg production from EU member states to grow from an estimated 6.9 million metric tons in 2019 to 7.7 million metric tons by 2030. As consumer preferences change, they drive production practice changes as well. The European Commission estimates that, while little more than half of all hens were kept in enriched cages in 2018, more than 28% were raised in barns and more than 15% were free-range hens.
Egg production is not only trending upward in the U.S. and EU, but around the world as diets change and the growing population consumes more protein. In Mexico, for example, production of eggs has grown from 2.7 million metric tons to be projected to cross the 3-million-metric-ton mark by 2020.
