Despite avian influenza outreaks that have claimed more than 17million Canadian birds since 2021, Egg Farmers of Canada reported that its supply-management members had 2.92 million more birds last year than the year before.
Of that, 1.5 million were granted them on a temporary basis to make up for the disease losses and the higher cost of eggs that used to be imported from the United States when its prices were much lower than Canadian prices. The U.S. was hit so hard by avian flu that President Donald Trump promised consumers that he would bring egg prices back down.
Canadian egg production increased by 7.6 per cent last year to 937 million dozen, with retail egg sales up by 5.8 per cent and foodservice demand up 2.6 per cent.
The Egg Farmers of Canada marketing board credited its “Eggs Everywhere” advertising with reducing them number of households consuming six or fewer eggs per week. That number was down by four per cent.
At the end of last year, about 53 per cent of laying hens were out of conventional caged housing. A number of supermarkets and fast-food chains have announced deadlines after which they will not buy eggs if the hens are housed in conventional cages.
