In-Ovo Sexing is Getting Cheaper Each Year

In a recent interview with Global Ag Media, economist Peter van Horne described some of the critical recent developments in the growing international discussion of in-ovo sexing. Most notably, after considerable improvement over the last few years, the price of in-ovo sexing technology is now less than 1 cent per table egg.

Van Horne highlighted that the added price per in-ovo sexed white hen was $4.00 in 2020, then decreased to $3.50 two years ago, and improved again to $3.10 by this year. Given that commercial layers can lay 350 eggs, this suggests that in-ovo sexing costs less than 1 cent per table egg. These figures describe the wholesale price premium per hen, meaning they include a margin for the hatchery, in-ovo sexing technology company, and sometimes the pullet farm. In-ovo sexed brown egg layers can currently be purchased for cheaper than white hens, for around $1 - $1.50 extra per pullet.

What has contributed to this remarkable improvement in costs? Van Horne notes that there is now, “better scale, and there is a very rapid improvement in techniques. There is [also a] higher speed and [fewer] workers.” He also notes that there is now fierce competition in the market, with six companies — AAT, In Ovo, Nectra, Orbem, PlantEgg, and Respeggt — at commercial scale. Finally, van Horne called out the reduction in error rates, saying “You started with 4-5% errors. Now it’s only 1% errors.”

The cost reduction of in-ovo sexing follows a pattern common to many industrial technologies. As a new technology hits the market, it begins to capitalize on economies of scale and faces competitive market pressures, causing costs to fall. Lower costs then open up new markets, enabling further economies of scale, and a continuation of the virtuous cycle. 

By linearly extrapolating the recent price reduction of in-ovo sexing technology for the next 5 years, we can predict that the cost curve will mirror that of technologies like television, solar panels, and wind turbines. Additionally, as in-ovo sexing is adopted, it will unlock other beneficial practices such as on-farm hatching and in-ovo vaccination that will help defray the added costs. When in-ovo sexing is justifiable on purely economic grounds, it will become the default practice across the entire egg industry.