With avian flu continuing to spread through American chicken farms, the U.S. is planning to import 420 million eggs from Turkey to help fill gaps in supply.

CNN reports that the U.S. is expecting to take in around 240 million eggs from Turkey by July, with the remainder set to arrive by the end of the year, for a total value of $37 million. That marks a substantial increase from 2024, when Turkey — the world's fifth largest exporter of eggs — exported 71 million eggs to the U.S. Turkey is also the only country the U.S. imports the fridge staple from, given that the U.S. produces more than 7.5 billion eggs a year on its own, according to data from the American Egg Board. 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the average price for a dozen eggs rose by 53% year-over-year in January, with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) expecting prices to increase by another 20% in 2025. In the fall of 2024, an uptick in bird flu forced U.S. farms to cull 20 million chickens, which accounted for around 6.5% of the country's egg-laying hens. Since then, several large grocery chains have capped egg purchases to preserve supplies, while the American Egg Board has warned that it could take up to nine months to replace flocks lost to the disease. 

Although many in the industry have called on the federal government to increase funding and staffing to combat the outbreak, the Trump administration has made sweeping cuts to agencies leading the charge, including the USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On February 18, the USDA also admitted that it had inadvertently laid off several workers considered critical to the country's bird flu response efforts, and that the agency was attempting to reverse the firings.