March 6, 2006

 

EU poultry producers reeling under pressure from lost sales

 

Germany's poultry industry has lost over EUR140 million (US$169 million) since last autumn because of bird flu, with demand down around 20 percent from previous levels, according to spokesman for the ZDG association of German poultry producers, Thomas Janning.  

 

Janning also appealed to the German government to take steps to promote the sale of poultry in Germany.

 

Over 140 cases of wild birds with the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus have been detected in the country. On Friday, a case of bird flu was confirmed only 20 km (12 miles) from the German capital Berlin.

 

In Ireland, poultry sales have fallen by 20 percent over the past week amid fears about the spread of avian flu in Europe.

 

However, free-range producers are the only poultry farmers who may be delighted with the emergence of the disease -  some farmers reported a 25 percent increase in business.

 

Organic producers are currently awaiting an EU decision to allow birds to be kept indoors for longer than the current 12-week maximum without losing their free-range status.

 

Meanwhile in Greece, there have now been 22 confirmed cases of birds infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in Greece.

 

So far, there have been no cases of the bird flu in domestic poultry.

 

Wildlife experts say Greece has received an unusually large number of migratory birds this winter, many of them forced south by severe weather.

 

Industry sources say that the sector has suffered EUR120 million (US$145 million) in losses since bird flu first came into the media spotlight in Europe last October.

 

There have been no cases of bird flu in chickens but television reports have fermented a bird flu scare, said Dimitris Livaditis, president of the Greek Association of Poultry Enterprises.

 

Meanwhile in Romania, several new cases of the deadly H5N1 were detected in domestic fowl in the eastern and southern parts of the country, authorities said.

 

Authorities detected the virus in samples from dead chickens on two household farms some 50 miles west of the capital. In the country's east, the national lab reported cases of infected hens, turkeys, geese and other birds in five villages.