Australia's eggcellent Christmas

Australians enjoyed an eggy Christmas in 2016, with egg sales at record levels in the month of December.

Grocery scan data from IRi shows 239 million eggs were purchased last December, or 7.7 million per day. That’s 7.9% higher than December 2015. In total, $83.8 million was spent on eggs during the month.

“While eggs are always popular over Christmas, this growth is representative of a trend toward greater overall consumption of eggs in Australia,” said AECL Managing Director Rowan McMonnies, adding that more than 90% of Australian households purchased eggs last year.

This data is further good news for the egg industry, following the Australian government’s export agreement with South Korea announced in January.

The agreement, designed to alleviate an egg shortage resulting from an avian influenza outbreak in South Korea, will see Australian egg farmers provide South Korea some of the 180 million eggs it needs each week.

Up to $20 million worth of Australian eggs could be exported to South Korea this year.