April 10, 2008

South Korea poultry sales suffer little bird flu impact

Despite the recent bird flu outbreaks, South Korean consumers had no qualms on the consumption of chickens and eggs as the fall in retail sales is not as drastic as expected.

E-mart, South Korea's largest retailer, reports of a 10 percent drop in chicken sales and 5 percent fall in egg sales after new of the latest bird flu outbreak was released.

Other major retailers such as Homeplus and Lotte, has reported of a 9.5 percent and 10 percent drop in chicken sales respectively.

That is far lower than the initial expected drop of 20-30 percent of poultry sales.

Bird flu outbreaks in 2003 and 2006 witnessed poultry sales plunging by 40 percent, and the unexpected result is due to the fact that more consumers have become aware that fully cooked meat poses no bird flu threat, according to industry officials.

Past outbreaks have proved damaging to poultry businesses, but health officials have since educated the public that consumption of fully cooked meat is safe as high temperatures are able to kill the bird flu virus.

Fried chicken chains are also affected slightly, with sales drop not exceeding 10 percent.

Despite the relatively positive outlook, industry officials warn that a prolonged bird flu situation could lead to a further decline in sales.