By Kirk Maltais and Roshan Fernandez
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the U.S. government will consider increasing imports of eggs to help address soaring prices.
Egg imports are part of a five-point strategy Rollins introduced Wednesday to help bring down record egg prices because of the worst outbreak of avian influenza in U.S. history. About 160 million laying hens have been culled owing to the outbreak since 2022, federal officials have said.
“We will proceed with imports only if the eggs meet stringent U.S. safety standards and if we determine that doing so won’t jeopardize American farmers’ access to markets in the future,” Rollins said.
The Agriculture Department plans to invest up to $1 billion to address egg costs. That includes $500 million for expanded biosecurity measures at farms, $400 million in financial relief for affected farmers and $100 million for further research into vaccinations for egg-laying chickens.
Here’s what you need to know about the USDA plan:
Does the U.S. import eggs now?
Yes, but not many compared with the number U.S. farmers and egg companies produce each year.
The U.S. is one of the world’s egg powers, producing about 93 billion table eggs in 2024. In 2023, the U.S. produced about $17.9 billion worth of eggs, according to USDA data. The total value of egg and egg product imports that year was about $129 million.
Where would imported eggs come from?
The U.S. imports eggs from a relatively small number of countries. The Turkish Egg Producers Central Union announced this month that it would be shipping 15,000 metric tons of eggs to the U.S.
The USDA said it expects more, with Turkey expected to increase shipments this year from roughly 70 million eggs to 420 million.
Analysts say that the country might be able to increase to provide more, but shipping fresh eggs poses its own challenges.
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