The egg market - Italy

1.1 Definition and presentation

Egg is a protein-rich food that is used in cuisines all over the world. Usually with the word egg we refer to that of chicken but we also consume those of other animals such as ostrich, duck or quail and many others. Egg is used both as a raw material for sweet foods such as cakes but also for savory foods such as pasta. It is also eaten as a main dish and can be cooked in a variety of ways such as poached, benedict, scrambled or hard-boiled.

The global market amounts to 98.35 billion in 2022 growing at a CAGR of 6.73 percent over the next five years. This growth is dictated by the fact that more and more people are looking for dishes that are quick and easy to prepare but at the same time healthy and have good nutritional values.

Regarding the Italian market, in 2019 more than12.3 billion eggs, equivalent to about 773 thousand tons of product. Geographically, most of the production takes place in the North (48%). 47% of eggs are raised on the ground, 45% in cages, 5% come from organic farms and 3% from free-range. Regarding national consumption, Italians consume an average of 13 KG each of eggs per year, slightly below the European average. Each Italian, therefore, eats about 214 eggs per year counting both direct and indirect consumption (the egg being 40% used in the food industry as an egg-product). The main distribution channels are supermarket (37%), discount stores (29%), hypermarkets (22%) and finally free services (12%).

The trend to note within the market is the growth of organic eggs, which increased 11 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year while eggs from cage farms decreased by 25 percent.