The measure has increased prices of eggs by 25% and is forcing the government to allow imports without taxes.
Egg prices in South Korea have skyrocketed in the last three months due to avian influenza in poultry farms. According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, since November, authorities have ordered the culling of 19.9 million birds in an attempt to stop the spread of the Avian Influenza outbreak that has been affecting. 82% (16 million head) of those cullings were carried in laying hen farms, causing a spike in egg prices.
Until last week the country had registered 73 different outbreaks of the disease, caused by a strain of type H5N8. in just one week the average price of eggs increased 24.2%, while chicken meat increased by almost 10%.
In an attempt to minimize these increases, the South Korean government announced that it intends to import up to 50 thousand tons of fresh eggs and egg products, without tariffs, by the end of June.
Also, a large number of cases reported in wild birds (87) is further hampering the efforts to curb the spread of the virus on local poultry farms. So far, South Korean authorities decided to depopulate all poultry farms within a radius of three kilometres from each detected outbreak.
