Export partly explains Finland’s egg boom. According to the expert, the export growth at the beginning of the year was surprising.
In Viikki’s Prisma in Helsinki, the egg shelf was quite empty in March. This has been the case in many other stores as well. Joel Maisalmi
Every year, millions of kilograms of eggs are exported from Finland to the world.
Last year, fresh eggs in shell intended for consumption were exported the most to Denmark, Sweden and Latvia. The matter is clear from the Customs statistics, which Iltalehti obtained from the information service of the Natural Resources Center (Luke).
The eggs were exported to fifteen countries. In addition to those already mentioned, more than a million kilos were exported to Germany and the Netherlands. The least was exported to Italy, Saudi Arabia and France.
In total, a good 14 million kilograms of shell eggs were exported abroad last year. The statistics do not show the number of fertilized eggs exported for incubation, nor the number of egg preparations.
Expert of the Confederation of Agricultural and Forestry Producers (MTK). Mari Lukkariniemi tells Iltalehte that a good 3 million kilos of various egg preparations were exported abroad last year.
Lukkariniemi previously wrote on the association’s blog about the egg shortage plaguing the nation. According to him, there is no real shortage, but eggs have disappeared, especially in the export market.
– In December–February [2026] 20.8 million kilograms of eggs were produced and 16.1 million kilograms were consumed. At the same time, 5.3 million kilos were exported. When you add these together, you quickly notice that there were about 600,000 kilos too few eggs left on the domestic market, Lukkariniemi wrote.
The story continues after the box.
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Export of fresh, shelled eggs in 2025 in kilograms
- Denmark 3,341,413
- Swedish 2,624,972
- Latvia 2,396,001
- Netherlands 1,693,987
- Germany 1,112,455
- Norway 700 711
- Lithuania 509,295
- Hungary 449,476
- Czech Republic 395,841
- Estonia 395,283
- Belgium 252,412
- Poland 161,937
- Italy 59,525
- Saudi Arabia 55,621
- France 3,480
Source: Customs
Surprise
Mari Lukkariniemi tells Iltalehti that the share of Finnish egg exports from all production grew quite strongly last year. The export volume increased by approximately 8 percent from 2024.
A steeper rise has been seen since the beginning of the year, when the share of exports rose from about a fifth to about a quarter of all production.
– It came as a bit of a surprise, Lukkariniemi says.
According to Mari Lukkariniemi, there has been rather overproduction of eggs since the 60s. MTK
The strong growth at the beginning of the year has been influenced, for example, by the spread of bird flu in Europe. Another viral disease spreading in poultry, Newcastle disease, has also reared its head.
Lukkariniemi is of the opinion that Finland’s egg exports could afford to grow even further. He wonders why this hasn’t happened already.
According to Lukkariniemi, the quality of Finnish eggs is considered good abroad. When you get a good price for eggs abroad, it could increase the pressure to raise producer prices at home as well.
Finnish retail stores in Lukkariniemi have warm greetings. He states that Finland’s egg scare could be solved by good trade practices, i.e. by paying the producers enough.
– When we say that production is loss-making, it is probably loss-making. Then you have to be able to bring more money into the chain so that primary production practitioners can run their business. If the primary production operators lose their livelihood, then the bread leaves the Finnish consumer’s mouth.