• Iowa’s egg farmers lead the nation in egg production, caring for nearly 60 million laying hens producing nearly 15 billion eggs per year. That’s almost one out of every five eggs produced in the United States!
• Iowa’s egg industry feeds the state economy in a big way. The industry contributes about $2 billion in total sales, some 8,000 jobs, more than $424 in personal wages and nearly $19.3 million in state tax revenues.
• Per capita consumption is a measure of total egg production divided by the total population. It does not represent demand.
(USDA has recently adjusted data to reflect 2000 Census figures.
1996 – 234.6 | 2002 – 255.9 | 2008 – 248.3 |
1997 – 235.6 | 2003 – 254.7 | 2009 – 248.4 |
1998 – 239.7 | 2004 – 257.1 | 2010 – 247.9 |
1999 – 249.8 | 2005 – 255.4 | 2011 – 247.7 |
2000 – 251.7 | 2006 – 258.1 | 2012 – 248.7 |
2001 – 252.8 | 2007 – 251.7 | 2013 – 250.8 (est.) |
• Currently, the top ten egg producing states (ranked by number of layers represented in thousands) are:
1. Iowa – 51,501 2. Ohio – 27,944 3. Indiana – 25,802 4. Pennsylvania – 23,683 5. California – 19,092 6. Texas – 14,671 7. Michigan – 12,188 8. Minnesota – 9,359 9. Nebraska – 9,245 10. Georgia – 8,942 |
• The five largest egg producing states represent approximately 50 percent of all U.S. layers.
• U.S. egg production during February 2013 was 6.23 billion table eggs.
• Presently, there are approximately 57 egg producing companies with 1 million-plus layers that represent approximately 87 percent of total production and 16 companies with greater than 5 million layers.
• To date, there are approximately 179 egg producing companies with flocks of 75,000 hens or more. These companies represent about 95 percent of all the layers in the United States. In 1987, there were around 2,500 operations. (Number of operations in 1987 include some contract farms and divisions.)
• In 2012, the average number of egg-type laying hens in the United States was 286 million. Flock size for March 1, 2013 was 291 million layers, increasing from last year’s 281. Rate of lay per day on March 1, 2013, averaged 74.3 eggs per 100 layers, up slightly from last year.
As of Mar. 2013 2013 2012
U.S. Cage-Free
Flock: 5.7% 6.0%
Layers (millions) 16.68 16.9
USDA Organic: 2.8% 3.0%
Layers (millions) 8.2 8.5
Other Cage-Free: 2.9% 3.0%
Layers (millions) 8.5 8.3
Note: percentage of U.S. table egg layer flock.
Source: USDA Poultty Market News & Analysis
Of the 223.70 million cases (estimated) of shell eggs produced in 2012:
• 71.3 million cases (31.9 percent) were further processed (for foodservice, manufacturing, retail and export);
• 123.8 million cases (55.3 percent) went to retail;
• 20.13 million cases (9 percent) went for foodservice use; and
• 8.5 million cases (3.8 percent) were exported
• Exports of processed egg products for the first two months of 2013 were 6,352 tons valued at $18.84 million, up 7.4 and 0.6 percent year-on-year, respectively. Table egg exports set year-on-year record in both quality and value. While export quantity reached 20.48 million dozen, up 55.6 percent year-over-year, export value was $19.21 million, up 55.8 percent.
• Exports of processed egg products to Japan, the single most important export market for U.S. egg products, decreased by 26.7 percent year-on-year to $6.3 million, accounting for 33.5 percent of U.S. total export value worldwide. Exports to the EU-27 were $3.40 million, down 13.5 percent from the same period in 2012. Sales to Mexico reached $2.21 million, an increase of 107.6 year-on-year. Exports to Canada were doubled to $2.06 million. Exports to Taiwan increased 114.5 percent to $0.67 million. Export sales to these top five markets were $14.65 or 77.8 percent of U.S. total sales worldwide.
• Of the total table egg shipments, 86.4 percent or 17.69 million dozen were shipped to the top five export markets – Hong Kong, Mexico, the U.A.E., EU-27 and Canada. Specifically, shipments to these top markets were Hong Kong, 8.53 million doz., up 28.2 percent year-on-year; Mexico, 3.39 million doz., as compared to 0.30 million doz. for the same time period of 2012; The U.A.E., 2.59 million doz., up 0.7 percent; EU-27, 1.89 million doz., up 238.6 percent; Canada, 1.30 million doz., up 1.5 percent.
Sources: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, American Egg Board and USAPEEC