July 26, 2007

India poultry exports may fall on bird flu outbreak

India's poultry exports may fall as a result of the latest outbreak of bird-flu, a senior industry executive said Wednesday (July 25).

"Exports had just begun to recover from the previous outbreak in 2006, now they will again be affected," said Amit Sachdev, who heads Blue Cross Consultants, an Indian poultry consultancy.

Authorities in India's s remote northeast said that bird flu was responsible for the deaths of 130 chickens in the area and began slaughtering poultry. The presence of H5N1 virus was confirmed from the samples taken from a farm in the state of Manipur, near the border of Myanmar, according to the Manipur Chief Minister office.

India's poultry exports, mainly eggs and egg powder, got a push recently when UAE opened its markets to Indian produce, Sachdev said.

Another poultry trader said Japan had recently begun to import Indian chicken broilers, and it remains to be seen whether the country will continue to do so after the latest outbreak.