January 28, 2008

India's state of Karnataka suffers severe decline in poultry sales
 

Traders said on Friday (January 25, 2008) that West Bengal's bird flu is affecting Karnataka's chicken sales and egg exports, causing the poultry industry to lose Rs10 million (US$253,486) a day.

President of Karnataka Hatcheries Association, P.S. Nandakumar, told IANS that chicken consumption is on the decline since West Bengal's bird flu outbreak, despite that Karnataka has no bird flu case and that there is little chance of it spreading to the state.

Karnataka exports nearly 1.5 million eggs every day, but according to Nandakumar, this has almost come to a halt and the price has plunged from Rs 18 (US$0.46) to Rs 12 (US$0.30) for 10 eggs. He added that chicken consumption in Karnataka has dipped by 25 percent from around 16 million kg per month.

The price of broiler chickens is now Rs 20 (US$0.51) per kg, down from Rs 34 (US$0.86).

Nandakumar said there is no bird flu in Karnataka as they have taken adequate bio-security measures and that the state does not acquire poultry products from West Bengal.

Several others states are also suffering from depressed poultry sales and prices after the bird flu attack but Bihar is an exception. Bihar's shopkeepers have managed to neutralize the bird flu fear and maintained their poultry sales by offering a free kg of onions with every kg of chicken bought.