Egg Prices May Drop As Turkey And South Korea Step In To Bail Out US

Both countries stepped in after Finland, Denmark and Poland rejected the call in February 2025.

After Poland, Finland, and Denmark rejected proposals to import eggs to the United States, South Korea and Turkey stepped in as a second option to hopefully drop the high prices and cater to the shortage, The Hill reported.

Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins announced millions of eggs will be imported from the European and Asian countries in the next few weeks. The plan is an effort to drop the high cost of the products, easing the minds of Americans and combating concerns about the spread of the bird flu. “We are talking in the hundreds of millions of eggs for the short term. So not insignificant, but significant enough to help continue to bring the prices down for right now,” Rollins said.

“And then when our chicken populations are repopulated, and we’ve got a full egg-laying industry going again, hopefully in a couple of months, we then shift back to our internal egg-layers and moving those eggs out onto the shelf.”

As a spike in the spread of avian influenza — known as the bird flu — forced farmers to slaughter millions of chickens, resulting in an egg shortage, the agency projected the cost could go up as much as 41% throughout 2025.

Both countries stepped in after Finland, Denmark, and Poland rejected the call in February 2025 due to concerns about the need to meet their own domestic supply and maintain European Union (EU) regulatory standards, according to Economic Times. By July 2025, Turkey will export roughly 15,000 tons of eggs to the U.S. Confirmed by Turkey’s Egg Producers Central Union (YUM-BIR), the exports are approximately valued at $26 million, and with close to 700 containers, the shipment is expected to place a temporary ease on the shortage and allow American consumers to relax some.

South Korea is stepping in as part of a broader plan to secure a more steady supply of eggs while the U.S. poultry industry recovers. In March 2025, the Gyerim Farm of Asan shipped 335,160 eggs — equivalent to 20 tons of eggs — to Georgia in an effort to diversify America’s import sources. However, the U.S. has some plans to mitigate prices and the bird flu impact.

USDA launched a $1 billion plan, including $500 million toward biosecurity measures for poultry farm protections, $100 million dedicated to vaccine development and research, and $400 million for financial relief for farmers who have suffered losses due to the outbreak. In hopes of retail pricing dropping, the agency is offering free consulting services to commercial egg farms and covering up to 75% of the costs that correlate with heightening farm security in hopes of preventing future outbreaks.