Belgium: Egg consumption continues to grow
One in four Belgians ate eggs on an average day in 2024. Among egg eaters, we find relatively more French-speaking people, 18-34 year olds and consumers with foreign roots.
The traditional supermarket remains the most important purchasing channel for eggs.
This is evident from data from the market research agency YouGov Belgium, which monitors the purchasing behaviour of 6,000 Belgian families on behalf of VLAM, and from the iVox/VLAM consumption tracker, which maps the consumption behaviour of 7,300 Belgians. The figures only relate to the purchase and consumption of fresh eggs in shell.
Further growth in egg purchases
Eggs are a fresh category that has been showing good growth for several years. In 2024, 5% more eggs were purchased compared to 2023 and prices remained high. Belgians bought around 80 eggs in 2024. The percentage of purchasing families rose from 93 to 94%. The purchase frequency climbed above 16 times per year.
Due to the growth in the number of eggs purchased, egg expenditure rose by 6% compared to 2023 to 21.70 euros. A barn egg was the cheapest (0.23 euros each), the organic egg the most expensive (0.41 euros each) and eggs from free-range chickens were in between (0.34 euros each).
More Belgians eat eggs
If we look at total consumption, so not only at home as described above, we see that the number of Belgians who ate eggs in pure form on an average day in 2024 has increased since 2017. On an average day in 2024, 26% of Belgians ate eggs (excl. eggs in preparations), compared to 16% on an average day in 2017. Among egg eaters, we find relatively more French-speaking people, 18-34 year olds and consumers with foreign roots.
Three quarters of the times we eat eggs, this is at home, 8% with family/friends, 9% at work/school, 3% on the road and 7% on location (including catering, party and sports halls, events and festivals). Eggs are more often than other food products received from family and friends or obtained from our own chickens. 21% of egg consumption consists of received eggs or eggs from our own breeding.
The barn egg is the standard
Three quarters of the eggs purchased are barn eggs. They represent 64% of egg spending. Organic sees its volume share fall from 11 to 10% but the value share remains at 16%. The number of buyers of organic eggs fell from 32 to 31 per 100 in 2024 and the purchase frequency increased from 6.1 to 6.5 times per year.
Free range is recovering from the setback in 2023 and now accounts for 16% of egg volume.
DIS 1 market leader and hard discount lost ground in the long term
In terms of distribution, DIS 1 (hypermarkets and traditional supermarkets including Colruyt and AD Delhaize) remains the most important channel with a 55% market share. Hard discount (Aldi and Lidl) is the second most important purchasing channel for fresh shell eggs in Belgium with a market share of 26%, but, unlike the total fresh market, it did lose market share compared to 2016. Local supermarkets (Delhaize Proxy, Okay, Spar, Carrefour Express, etc.) are the third most important purchasing channel for eggs with a share that fluctuates between 9 and 10%. E-commerce is limited, but has doubled its market share from 1 to 2% since 2016. The 'other' channels (7% market share) including farm shops, public markets and specialist shops are smaller channels for egg sales.
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