The American Egg Board (AEB) circulates Nielsen retail sales data as a service to the industry. The latest report reflected 52-week rolling sales and consumption of eggs and egg products for the week ending December 4th 2021.  Nielsen data captures retail volume and sales value of shell eggs, consumer-packed liquid and hard-boiled peeled eggs. Data is derived from supermarkets, groceries, dollar outlets, drug and convenience stores all with annual sales in excess of $2 million. Some club warehouses provide data but Costco is excluded.

The data assembled by Nielsen and distributed by the AEB for the past 52-weeks to December 4th documented sales of 3.15 billion dozen egg-equivalents in all retail presentations over the 52-week period. This represents 67.0 percent of projected and updated calendar 2021 egg production totaling 8.07 billion dozen or the capture of approximately 58 percent of the shell-egg segment of the industry that attained 72 percent of all U.S. egg production based on USDA data on breaking.

• For the 52-week period, retail sales of all shell-egg categories (shell, consumer liquid, hard boiled) expressed as egg-equivalents decreased by 7.1 percent from the corresponding previous 52 weeks.  Dollar value was 4.0 percent lower to $6,530 million. Projected per capita consumption in 2021 will attain 284.0 eggs representing a 0.9 percent decline from the 2020 period as a result of COVID restrictions. Direct comparisons between 2020 and 2021 are distorted by the late March and April 2020 panic buying in response to COVID.
• On a rolling 52-week basis, the volume captured by Nielsen comprising retail shell-egg sales attained 3.15 billion egg-equivalent dozens. Shell egg value at retail was $6,057 million with an average 2021unit value of $2.00 per dozen. Egg alternatives including liquid, frozen and powdered egg products converted to equivalent dozens attained 94.3 million dozen equivalents, a 5.0 percent increase over the previous 52-week period and an 3.2 percent increase in value to $304.4 million corresponding to a unit value of $3.22 per dozen. Rolling 52-week hard-boiled peeled egg sales attained 32.7 million dozen, with a 16.0 percent increase in volume and a proportional 17.0 percent increase in value compared to 2020 reflecting a stable unit price of $5.16 per dozen in 2021.

• In classifying retail sales by product segment, conventional  (caged) eggs represented 81.0 percent and cage-free 11.2 percent. Free-range and pastured combined amounted to 7.8 percent. This figure is however based on loose and inconsistent definitions of these categories of housing. Rolling 52-week conventional (non-organic) egg sales decreased 10.9 percent in volume and 8.6 percent in value.

• The report indicated that 6.9 percent of shell eggs were marketed under the USDA Certified Organic shield up 0.2 percent in volume and down 1.1 percent in value.

• With respect to volume of other than generic shell eggs, 52-week rolling branded egg sales comprised 29.1 percent of retail sales compared to 70.9 percent for private label.  Branded eggs generated 42.3 percent of dollar value compared to private label at 57.7 percent.  Branded eggs declined by 9.4 percent in volume and 5.4 percent in value.

• In analyzing retail channels for shell eggs, 52-week rolling values compared to the previous period in 2020 documented that supermarkets and groceries decreased by 10.3 percent, drugstores lower by 29.3 percent, convenience stores were down by 7.7 percent and the combination of club stores and dollar stores (excluding Costco- an important deletion given their volume) decreased by 6.3 percent presumably with the largest contribution from big-box club stores other than Costco.

In reviewing 2021 USDA data there were on average 72.6 million hens in barns and aviary houses during 2021 producing cage-free eggs, in addition to 17.6 million non-caged hens under the Certified Organic program in aviaries, barns and extensive (actual free-range and pasture) housing. The complement of cage-free hens represented 32.1 percent of an assumed population of 225 million hens in the shell-egg segment of production. If USDA data on hens under cage-free housing (aviaries and barns) are accurate and accepting the Nielsen data indicating a sales proportion of 19.0 percent for eggs derived from non-caged flocks, more than half of cage-free eggs are down-marketed to conventional brown and white shelled product. If the Nielsen data is accurate the situation with Certified Organic is presumed to be similar with 17.6 million hens (7.8 percent of 225 million) producing under the category through 2021 but representing 6.9 percent of shell egg sales for the rolling year to December 4th.  The differences between potential production of 401 million dozen and recorded sales of 208 million dozen or 51.8 percent of production cannot be ascribed to the use of cage-free and organic eggs in egg liquids. The nominal complement of hens producing eggs for the breaking segment is estimated at 105 million, predominantly as generics but the hens producing for this segment could be as much as 10 million fewer since the advent of COVID.