Canada's hatching eggs industry

... at a glance

• The Canadian Hatching Egg Producers are the national representatives for the broiler hatching egg industry in Canada.
• In 2023, the 243 broiler hatching egg producers in Canada produced over 868 million broiler hatching eggs, generating 500 million dollars in farm cash receipts , 0.5% of farm cash receipts in Canada. Ontario and Quebec production totaled 61% of Canada’s total.
• According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), about 98 hatcheries are licensed in Canada for different purposes (e.g. research, breeding stock, commercial production and vaccines) and various species including broiler chicken, egg type, turkey, waterfowl, and game birds. Among these regulated hatcheries, 45 are broiler hatcheries, 17 laying egg hatcheries and 8 turkey hatcheries, with some licensed for multiple species.
• In 2023, Canadian broiler hatcheries placed a total of 837 million chicks on chicken operations, 30.4 million chicks on egg production operations, 24 million poults on turkey production, and 2.7 million broiler chicks on small lots.
• The production allocation of broiler hatching eggs, under the supply management system, relies on both domestic requirements, and a predictable level of imports subject to import controls such as Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ’s), and policies pertaining to supplemental imports.
• According to Statistics Canada, 2023 imports of hatching eggs for chicken, turkey, egg, and other poultry sectors were valued at $116 million, mostly destined for the broiler market.
• Meanwhile, exports of hatching eggs were valued at $86 million to many countries, including the US, Russia, Chile and Brazil. Exports consisted primarily of turkey stocks, as Canada has developed expertise in the field of turkey genetics.

Statistics

• Hatcheries