Finnish authorities refused to supply eggs to the United States because of possible bureaucratic difficulties. This is reported by broadcaster Yle.
The U.S. appealed to Denmark and a number of other European countries with a request to export eggs to the U.S. market in connection with their shortage, reports Reuters with reference to the Association of Egg Producers of Northern Europe.
The U.S. has approached Finnish authorities on the issue of egg exports, the Finnish Poultry Association told Yle. Its executive director Leera Lehtilä said on Saturday that she did not see any possibility of supplying the product now because Finland had not yet negotiated with the United States on “market access.” This long process may require lengthy inspections, she noted.
“Starting exports is not such a simple matter as there are no set rules,” Lehtilä said.
Finland does not have a permit to export eggs to the U.S., and obtaining one would require a lot of bureaucratic processes and research, as the country has never exported such products before, she said.
“Millions of birds had to be slaughtered there because of bird flu. We have a total of four million laying hens in Finland. The amount we could export would not solve the shortage of eggs,” – emphasized Yle Lehtilä.
Recall, the U.S. faced a sharp rise in egg prices due to the bird flu epidemic. This is one of the first problems that had to be solved by the administration of Donald Trump.