Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Poultry and eggs in Canada

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Release date: November 28, 2019
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Infographic: Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Poultry and eggs in Canada
Description: Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Poultry and eggs in Canada

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Poultry and eggs in Canada

Price of eggs received by farmers across Canada ($/dozen), December 2018
Province Price of eggs ($/dozen)
British Columbia $1.82
Alberta $1.71
Saskatchewan $1.69
Manitoba $1.73
Ontario $1.55
Quebec $1.53
New Brunswick $1.68
Nova Scotia $1.73
Prince Edward Island $1.59
Newfoundland and Labrador $1.94

The average price of eggs received by Canadian farmers in December 2018 was $1.63/dozen, while the average price paid by Canadian consumers during this period was $3.10/dozen.

Chicken available for consumption in 2018 equalled 21 kg per person, up 12.5% from 2008.

Eggs available for consumption in 2018 equalled 15 kg (21 dozen) per person, up 30.4% from 2008.

Annual production ('000 tonnes)
  Eggs Chickens
1968 303 240
1988 326 539
1998 339 801
2008 439 1017
2018 570 1263

While chicken production has grown more than egg production in the last 50 years, egg production had the higher growth rate for the last 20 years.

In 2018, almost 1 in 3 chickens produced in Canada were produced in Ontario

In 2018, over 1 in 3 eggs produced in Canada were produced in Ontario

2018 farm cash receipts equalled $2.69 billion for chickens for meat and $1.17 billion for eggs in shell.

Sources: Monthly average retail prices for food and other selected products (18-10-0002), Farm cash receipts, annual (table 32-10-0045), Food available in Canada (table 32-10-0054), Production, disposition and farm value of poultry meat (table 32-10-0117), Production and disposition of eggs, annual (table 32-10-0119), Production and disposition of eggs, monthly (table 32-10-0121).

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Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2019

All rights reserved. Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

Frequency: Occasional

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