Severe egg shortage, US needs to import 'hundreds of millions of eggs'

US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on March 21 that the US has begun importing chicken eggs from Turkey and South Korea and is negotiating with other countries for temporary imports, according to AFP. "We are negotiating to buy hundreds of millions of eggs in the short term," Rollins said.

Multiple outbreaks of bird flu in the United States have forced farmers to cull at least 30 million birds, leading to a domestic egg shortage and pushing egg prices up.

President Donald Trump made the issue a priority during his election campaign last year. After returning to the White House in January, he tasked Rollins with increasing egg supplies and lowering prices.

In the weeks that followed, producers in several countries announced that the US was interested in buying their products. According to AFP, poultry associations in Poland and Lithuania said they had been approached by the US diplomatic mission to buy eggs.

"Many countries are short of eggs. The main question is what financial conditions the Americans will offer," said Katarzyna Gawronska, director of the Polish Chamber of Feed and Poultry Producers.

The USDA recently reported that wholesale egg prices have fallen nearly 50% since late February, suggesting retail prices could soon follow suit. “The downward trend underscores the effectiveness of USDA’s approach,” the USDA said, using the agency’s acronym.

Secretary Rollins said the United States will stop importing eggs when domestic egg farmers can increase supplies, hopefully in a few months.