U.S. has imported nearly 10x the amount of eggs in 2025 compared to 2024

A Thursday news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about the department’s response to the highly pathogenic avian influenza, shows the nation imported more than 26 million shell eggs, counted by the dozen, since January, which is more than 10 times the amount imported during the same period in 2024.

Increasing egg imports, enhancing biosecurity, researching vaccine options and providing financial relief to farmers were all elements of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ plan to combat HPAI and lower the cost of eggs.

Rollins said her five-pronged plan “has worked,” noting a 64 percent drop in wholesale egg prices and more than 900 completed biosecurity assessments at poultry farms across the country.

Rollins announced the $1 billion plan to combat the bird flu in February after three years of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu had eliminated nearly 170 million poultry birds and caused domestic egg prices to skyrocket.

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From January 2024 to June 2024, the U.S. imported around 2.36 million shell eggs and just over 9.2 million egg products, according to an egg markets report from USDA.

The release said the U.S. imported more than 26 million shell eggs, by the dozen, from Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Turkey and South Korea, and imported an additional 14 million egg products, measured in dozen shell-egg equivalents since January 2025.

A USDA egg market report from May showed the majority, 57 percent of imported shell eggs came from the Republic of Türkiye, aka Turkey.

The USDA news release said the efforts to increase imports had helped “bolster domestic supply” and said by comparison, domestic egg production in 2024 totaled 109 billion eggs.

Iowa remains the top egg-producing state in the country and to date has lost more than 29 million birds associated with commercial table egg production impacted by HPAI, according to data from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Biosecurity improvements

As part of Rollins’ plan, producers could have free biosecurity assessments at their facilities and receive USDA assistance for biosecurity improvements.

According to the release from USDA, nearly 1,000 facilities have received the assessments, including 162 facilities in Iowa.

Producers can email poultry.biosecurity@usda.gov or call 844-820-2234 to request these assessments.

Iowa ranked second on the list of states with the highest number of biosecurity assessments, behind Ohio at 214 assessments and above Pennsylvania at 144, Indiana at 129 and Missouri at 80 assessments.

Of the assessments completed, 372 have looked at wildlife biosecurity according to APHIS.

Rollins encouraged poultry producers to utilize the free assessments before the fall when wild bird migration will increase the potential for bird flu outbreaks.

“While we are proud that over 900 biosecurity assessments have been conducted to date, resources remain available, and we are urging poultry farmers of all sizes to get your assessments done today before a potentially challenging fall,” Rollins said in the release.

USDA has paid farmers more than $70 million to replenish their flocks since February when USDA increased the indemnity values available to producers with layer flocks affected by HPAI.

The department also announced a grant challenge opportunity in March for research projects to support HPAI prevention, therapeutics, and potential vaccines. The Thursday release said the department received requests for more than $793 million in funding and the awards will be finalized in the fall.

This story originally appeared at Iowa Capital Dispatch.