Does the U.S. administration have egg on their faces?
Properly, in all probability not actually, since they possible cannot afford to waste a mouthful as of late.
However amid an outbreak of chicken flu in laying hens that led to a severe egg shortage inflicting egg costs at grocery shops to hit record highs, the U.S. authorities is now seeking to Europe for brand spanking new export markets. And consultants say which may show difficult.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins “is dedicated to decreasing egg costs for customers and is actively exploring all choices, together with commerce alternatives,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA), instructed CBC Information.
The USDA has approached Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden, amongst different nations, to deal with the scarcity, based on European business teams. They’ve additionally contacted Austria, Norway, Spain and Denmark — the place, within the latter case, diplomatic relations have recently soured as U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly suggests the U.S. ought to management its territory of Greenland.
Egg costs within the U.S. have soared lately, largely due to a scarcity brought on by avian-flu outbreaks. It is compelled some companies to lift costs and even hire chickens to handle the scenario.
This transfer is not with out issues and political tensions over the myriad import tariffs Trump has imposed or threatened to impose on his nation’s high buying and selling companions, together with Canada. However Easter is on the way in which, and demand for these costly and elusive shelled eggs is climbing.
Final week, the USDA announced it had secured “new egg import commitments” from Turkey and South Korea.
The U.S. made its enchantment for international eggs amid a big deficit, based on The Associated Press. Final month, the nation produced 720 million fewer desk eggs than in February 2024, a decline of practically 10 per cent.
In the meantime, Trump has repeatedly boasted that the U.S. doesn’t need anything from Canada. Which raises the query: have they requested us for eggs? And the reply is: No.
“Canada has not obtained any request to export shelled eggs to the US,” a spokesperson for Agriculture and Agri-Meals Canada instructed CBC Information.
Canada’s egg provide
There’s possible a few causes for that, based on Michael von Massow, a professor of meals agriculture and useful resource economics on the College of Guelph in Ontario. The primary is simply the present Canada-U.S. relationship, von Massow instructed CBC Information, a nod to the present commerce battle and Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state.
However greater than that, particularly contemplating the U.S. requested Denmark, it in all probability comes right down to the dimensions of Canada’s business, he defined.
“We do not have a complete lot of additional eggs.”
The American egg manufacturing business is greater than ten instances bigger than Canada’s business, Agriculture and Agri-Meals Canada defined.
“Their wants far exceed our manufacturing capability,” the division famous.
Canada produced 856 million dozen eggs in 2024, based on the Egg Farmers of Canada’s lately launched Annual General Report. The U.S. produced about 9 billion dozen eggs that very same yr, based on the USDA’s annual Chickens and Eggs report.
Because the starting of 2024, over 70 million laying hens have been affected by Excessive Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI, or chicken flu) within the U.S., understanding to about 19 per cent of U.S. manufacturing, based on Agriculture and Agri-Meals Canada. The variety of birds that needed to be depopulated within the U.S. represents nearly 3 times the inhabitants of Canada’s laying hens, the added.
And it isn’t as if Canada might simply ramp up its provide even when the U.S. did ask for assist, von Massow stated. It’s important to keep in mind that eggs are a organic manufacturing course of — we solely have so many barns and there is a time lag in getting chickens to put eggs, plus Canada’s business operates beneath a supply-management system, he defined.
“It is simply not a viable choice,” he stated.
Challenges embody hen feathers and poop
However it’s a difficult time for the U.S. to be asking for assist overseas, von Massow stated. And never simply because the strategy of Easter means Europeans are seeing their very own home demand spike.
“The Europeans aren’t essentially pleased with Individuals proper now, both,” he stated.
Even when they have been wanting to share, European nations do not have many surplus eggs due to their very own avian flu outbreaks.
One of many largest obstacles, nonetheless, is the strategy the U.S. takes to stopping salmonella contamination.
U.S. meals security laws require recent eggs to be sanitized and refrigerated earlier than they attain buyers; within the European Union, security requirements name for Grade A eggs to be bought unwashed and with out prolonged chilling.
It is not uncommon in components of Europe, for instance, for customers to purchase eggs that also have feathers and hen poop caught to them, the AP stories.
In the meantime, the U.S. market is beginning to present indicators of enchancment, with wholesale costs for eggs beginning to lower, based on the USDA’s weekly egg markets overview. Assuming no new HPAI outbreaks, wholesale costs are anticipated to fall with a forecasted common of $4.24 US per dozen for the yr, based on the USDA.
That stated, if Canada did have the provision, and the U.S. did ask them for assist, von Massow stated Canada would in all probability step up. Present relationship apart, Canada hasn’t proven any signal of wanting to harm its personal exports and continues to ship different merchandise to the U.S., he added.
“If we had the eggs, I believe Canada would promote them the eggs.”
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