April 14, 2004

Japan Incur Significant Losses Due To Bird Flu Bird Flu

The battle against bird flu, which was first joined in Yamaguchi Prefecture in January, saw some respite at midnight Monday, when the Kyoto prefectural government lifted restrictions on shipments of chickens and eggs from farms within a five-kilometer radius of a farm that lost thousands of birds to the highly contagious disease.

However, it will be some time before the food service and retail industries recover from the war on avian flu. Reduced demand for chickens and eggs means retail prices will remain low for the time being.

After the disease broke out, affected companies reported declining sales as a result of widespread public fear over the safety of poultry products.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Ltd. saw sales drop by 15-22 percent during January and March compared with the same period the previous year. The year-on-year decrease ratio was worse than the 10.5 percent marked in fiscal 2003.

As a result, the company revised downward its net profit estimate on a consolidated basis to 130 million yen for the year ending Nov. 30, down 87.3 percent from the previous year.