Turkish eggs put on European shelves

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Turkish egg producers are looking to conquer European markets with the first egg exports made to Greece after a sanction was lifted on Turkey. Hürriyet photo

A Turkish egg producer has made Turkey’s first egg export to the European Union in years, after an exports sanction on Turkey was lifted after the European Commission approved the country’s residue inspections program.

“Turkey could not export any of its animal products to EU for years due to [poor] animal health rules. Now Turkey has opened the door slightly with egg exports. Confidence in Turkish eggs will now build up in EU countries. [Turkish] egg producers, which want to take advantage of the egg supply deficit and higher prices in the EU, are continuing talks to export eggs to many countries, including the Netherlands, Poland and France,” the Secretary General of the Central Union of Egg Producers (Yum-Bir) Hüseyin Sungur said July 6. The first EU exports have been made to Greece, he added.

The domestic egg industry achieved total exports of $286 million in 2011. The figure hit $163 million in the first six months of the year, an increase of 40 percent compared with the same period last year, Sungur said.