S. Korea to import 24 million eggs in February to stabilize prices, ease shortage

South Korea plans to import 24 million eggs after the Lunar New Year holiday, set for Feb. 11-14, in a bid to stabilize bird flu-induced surge of prices and ease a potential shortage.

The outbreak of avian influenza pushed egg prices by 15.2 percent on-year in January, the fastest since March last year.

Bird flu has ravaged South Korea's chicken farms since November last year. To ease a shortage of supply, South Korea temporarily removed tariffs on imported egg products on Jan. 28.

Consequently, local firms would be allowed to import 50,000 tons of fresh eggs and seven other kinds of egg products tariff-free until June 30.

South Korea recently confirmed another case of H5N8 strain of avian influenza in poultry to bring the total cases to 85.

The latest case from a duck farm in Chungju, which was raising 7,000 birds. All poultry within a 3-kilometer radius of the farm were culled.