the egg market | Italy

1.1 Definition and scope of study

Egg is a food rich in proteins which is used in kitchens all over the world. Usually, the word egg it is referred to chicken's egg, however also those of other animals such as ostrich, duck or quail and many others are consumed. Egg is used both as a raw material for sweet foods such as cakes and for salty foods such as pasta. It is also eaten as a single dish and it is possible to cook it in many ways such as poached, benedict, scrambled or boiled. 

As for the global market, it is expected to be worth 31.7 billion dollars by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 8.5% during the forecast period. This growth is dictated by the fact that more and more people are looking for dishes that are easy and quick to prepare but at the same time healthy and with good nutritional values.

Regarding the Italian market, more than 12.3 billion eggs were produced in 2019, 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 of eggs per person per year, slightly below the European average. Each Italian, therefore, eats about 214 eggs per year counting both direct and indirect consumption (40% of the egg being used in the food industry as an egg product). The main distribution channels are supermarkets (37%), discount stores (29%), hypermarkets (22%) and, finally, free services (12%). 

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