President Donald Trump's administration has been trying to import large quantities of eggs from overseas to make up for the loss of eggs that has occurred while American farms struggle to contain bird flu.
However, Bloomberg reports that the administration has been flailing in its efforts so far given the logistic challenges in importing a fragile agricultural product with a limited shelf life.
Additionally, many countries are also struggling to hold down the price of eggs for their own citizens, which makes them reluctant to sell any to the United States.
"Turkey, which plans to sell 15,000 tons to the US through July, recently added an export tax to control local prices," reports Bloomberg. "The country is also dealing with bird flu outbreaks, and eggs are important during the ongoing holy month of Ramadan when families often gather for large meals after a day of fasting."
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Nan-Dirk Mulder, an analyst at financial firm Rabobank, tells Bloomberg that Trump's bid to replace domestic eggs with imports appears doomed from the start.
“It’s a very local industry,” Mulder explained. “If you want to rebalance the market, you need big volumes. It’s almost impossible, in the short term, to do that.”
Bloomberg notes that the United States will have to import between 70 million to 100 million eggs in the next month to make up the current gap produced by eggs lost to bird flu.