January 13, 2004

Japan Bird Flu Limited Impact On Poultry Market

The outbreak of bird flu in Japan will have limited impact of the domestic market. The poultry industry in Yamaguchi Prefecture accounts for less than 2 percent of total production of eggs and chicken meat in Japan, so the effect on the national market has barely been noticeable and will be very limited, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The ministry also said there have been no known cases anywhere in the world of humans acquiring the virus from consuming the eggs or meat of infected chickens.

Japanese farms raised a total of about 240 million chickens fortheir eggs or meat, according to a 2002 poll by the ministry.

Yamaguchi Prefecture accounted for only about 4.17 million, or 1.7 percent, of that total. It produced 47,000 tons, or 1.9 percent, of the national production of chicken eggs and 1.2 percent, or about 6.9 million chickens, for meat.

Any potential ban on Japan's poultry exports would not have a severe effect on the national economy, the ministry believes, as Japan exported only 2,900 tons of chicken meat and 30 tons of eggs in 2002.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd., which uses domestic chickens for all its deep-fried chicken products, said it is now looking into whether it has any shipments from farms in Yamaguchi Prefecture.