South Korea's total chicken inventory rose 1.2% to 201 million birds in June 2026, according to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service poultry report on South Korea. The increase was driven mainly by broiler placements, which rose 1% to 111 million birds. Broilers, including samgye and indigenous chickens, made up 55.1% of the inventory, followed by layers at 39.2% (79 million) and parent stock (PS) chickens at 5.7% (11 million).
During the 2025-2026 winter and spring season, 58 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) were confirmed on domestic chicken and duck farms. Layer farms were hit hardest, with about 11.3 million layers, or 13.6% of the total layer inventory, depopulated. Losses of PS broilers, the foundation of the chicken meat industry, were greater than first estimated. About 400,000 birds, roughly 5% of the total PS broiler inventory, were depopulated, which caused significant alarm within the industry.
The loss of adult PS broilers made chick placements difficult and increased the instability of domestic broiler supply through the peak summer demand season. To offset the culling, 17 million hatching eggs were imported from European countries, including Belgium and Spain, in two shipments through August. Domestic integrators have been restocking PS broilers in competition with one another.
The layer shortage sharply reduced daily egg production and drove table egg prices higher, which pushed up prices across domestic livestock products. In response, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) announced plans to import about 200 million table eggs from countries including the United States and Thailand to stabilise domestic egg prices.