Canada's poultry and egg industry profile

... at a glance

• In 2021, Canada produced poultry and egg products worth $5.5 billion, contributing 6.7% of cash receipts to farming operations.
• In 2021, there were 2,823 regulated chicken producers and 515 registered turkey producers, 232 broiler hatching egg producers and 1,205 egg producers in Canada. In addition to the 4,775 commercial poultry and egg producers in Canada, there were a large number of businesses associated with these production activities.
• In 2021, Canada's commercial chicken and turkey meat production totaled 1.45 billion kilograms (eviscerated weight).
• In 2021, Canada produced 1.30 billion kilograms of chicken, 60.4% of which was produced in Quebec and Ontario.
• Supplying egg and poultry producers in 2021 were hatcheries along with numerous feed manufacturers, feed supplement suppliers and drug suppliers. In addition, many processors, further processors, egg grading and egg processing establishments in Canada depend on the poultry industries for a portion of their business.
• While chicken meat and meat products constitute most of our poultry and egg trade, Canada also exports breeding stock, hatching eggs and live birds, turkey, ducks, geese, other poultry meat and meat products, and eggs in shell or processed from multiple species.
• In 2021, Canada exported over 12.1 million chicks and poults, worth $44.7 million to 25 countries. The United States was the large market, representing 72% of our exports in Canadian dollars. Other countries included South Korea, China, Nepal, Mexico and Spain.
• In 2021, Canada exported over 40.6 million hatching eggs of different species, worth over 74.7 million dollars, to 20 countries. The United States was the largest market with 56% of our value exported heading south of the border, while other primary countries included Russia, Turkey and Spain.
• In 2021, Canada exported over 6.5 million kilograms of processed eggs worth 18.0 million dollars and over 21.3 million shell eggs worth over 2.7 million dollars.

Statistics

• Provincial poultry facts