February 23, 2009

India's egg exports plummeted over 70 percent on-year to 6 billion eggs in 2008, as successive bird flu outbreaks eroded demand, according to trade officials.

Poor exports of eggs have resulted to the poultry sector incurring huge losses, said Brij Mohan, senior manager of Venkateshwara Hatcheries.

Most regional importing countries have resumed the purchase of Indian eggs but the quantity has dropped to nearly a quarter of the previous trade volume.

Mohan said West Asian countries had stopped importing eggs from India after the first reported bird flu in 2006 in Maharashtra.

India used to export 15 million eggs per day, but currently ships only 4-5 million eggs, Mohan said.

However, Rick Thaper, treasurer of the Poultry Federation of India said the Indian poultry sector has incurred loss mainly because the country is under a single poultry zone.

A single zone means that if any part of India is hit by bird flu, the entire country's exports get affected.

Bird flu was reported in eastern and northeastern India, but exports from southern India had also stopped due to its single zone. About 90 percent of India's total egg exports came from southern states.

Thaper said India has a huge export potential so the government should give proper direction to the poultry sector.

India is the fourth largest egg producer in the world, producing 48 billion eggs annually.