August 30, 2006

India urges Japan to lift ban on poultry products

India's government has asked Japan to revoke the ban on imports of poultry products from the country.

India declared the country free from bird flu early this month and said it hopes to resume exports of its poultry and poultry products as soon as possible.

Japan had granted access to Indian poultry products during the second half of 2005, but had imposed a ban later as bird flu broke out in India.

India's Department of Animal Husbandry has recently written to the Japanese Government urging it to resume poultry imports from India. 

K.S.Money, Chairman of Agricultural and Processed Foods Products' Export Development Authority (Apeda) said he is confident Japan would lift the ban soon.

Besides Japan, Apeda is also negotiating with countries such as Malaysia and Thailand to accept India's poultry products.

For April this year, India's poultry exports fell 38 percent on-year, largely due to bird flu.

Poultry exports had grown 16 percent in the year before.

Still, Japan is expected to import limited amounts from India even if it does open its market. Close to 70 percent of Japan's poultry consumption is produced locally. The rest is imported mainly from Brazil, US and Chile.