APEC is a forum of 21 Pacific Rim member countries, organised as a cooperative and financed by contributions from its members. It was founded as a reaction to regional trade organisations in other parts of the world, such as the EU and NAFTA, and for the fear that Japan and other G8 member countries might dominate the economic activities in the Pacific region.
The 21 member countries of APEC play an important role in global laying hen husbandry and egg production. With a share of 38.6% in the global population, they contributed 59.5% to the global laying hen inventory and 65.7% to egg production in 2016, China alone provided almost 35.9%.
Between 1996 and 2016, the global laying hen inventory increased by 2.18 billion birds or 56.2%. In the same time period, the inventories of the APEC member countries grew by 820 million birds or 36.6%. The APEC countries contributed 37.8% to the global growth of the laying hen population.
A closer look at the dynamics at country level shows that the five leading countries (China, USA, Indonesia, Mexico and Russia) contributed 39.6% to the total laying hen inventory of the APEC countries in 2016. China was in a dominating position, sharing 44.4% of the laying hen population of APEC, followed by the USA with 11.9% and Indonesia with 8.2%.
Global egg production increased by 28.9 mill. t or 64.1% between 1996 and 2016. To this absolute growth, APEC member countries contributed 19.4 mill. t or 67.1% (Table 4). A closer look at the ranking of these countries shows the absolute dominance of China with a contribution of 35.9% to the global production volume in 2016, followed by the USA with 8.2%, Mexico with 3.7% and Japan with 3.5%. Japan, which ranked in third position in 1996 and 2006, was surpassed by Mexico in 2016. The contribution of the APEC member countries to the global egg production volume increased from 64.7% in 1996 to 65.7% in 2016. This documents the stability of the egg industry in the APEC member countries, but also indicates that in other parts of the world production also grew considerably, with the regional concentration being remarkably high. The spatial pattern of egg production in the APEC member countries is documented in Table 4. The leading three countries contributed 50.4% to the global production volume in 1996, 50.0% in 2006 and 47.8% in 2016. The decrease in the regional concentration is mainly due to the stagnation of Japan’s egg production in the analysed time period.
A ranking of the countries according to the absolute and relative growth of egg production between 1996 and 2016 shows considerable differences. China alone shared 37.6% of the global growth of egg production in the analysed time period, followed by the USA with 5.3% and Mexico with 5.1%. The dominant role of China is also documented in the 61.1% contribution to the absolute growth of egg production in the APEC member countries. A comparison with the ranking of the countries according to their relative growth reveals some remarkable differences. Nine of the 21 member countries more than doubled their production volume, with extraordinary high relative growth rates in Peru with 208.5%, Vietnam with 203.2%, Papua New Guinea with 175.0% and Chile with 135.4%. A negative trend was to be found in Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong.
Actual data on the dynamics and patterns of egg trade are only available for a limited number of countries. Egg trade is regionally concentrated between only a few partner countries. These are the three NAFTA member countries, China and Hong Kong as well as Malaysia and Singapore.
It can be expected that the APEC countries will be able to fasten their position in the global egg industry in the years to come. This assumption is as well based on the population dynamics as on the foreseeable increase of the per capita consumption and the growing purchasing power of the new middle class.
