March 7, 2012

Taiwanese firms unaffected by H5N2 scare

The stock prices of Taiwan's major poultry producers tumbled lately, but the companies were confident that they would not be disturbed by an outbreak of the H5N2 avian flu virus.

Charoen Pokphand Enterprise (Taiwan) Co and Great Wall Enterprise Co shares opened down by the maximum allowable 7% amid the scare before recovering somewhat by the end of the day on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

The benchmark index of the main bourse fell 1.35% yesterday, dragged down by heavy losses in food shares amid concerns over the avian flu outbreak at poultry farms.

The TAIEX fell 109.7 points to close at 8,004.74 on turnover of TWD107.04 billion (US$3.63 billion).

A total of 956 stocks closed up and 3,551 finished down, with 228 remaining unchanged.

Great Wall Enterprise, the largest chicken provider in Taiwan, closed down 3.73% at TWD31 (US$1.05), while Charoen Pokphand fell 5.69% to TWD15.75 (US$0.53).

The two companies said their own chicken farms and contract farms were not affected by the outbreak and stressed that their chicken products were all strictly examined before being shipped to customers.