October 24, 2005

 

Greece's poultry farmers suffer impact of bird flu fears
 

 

Consumers' fears over bird flu are hitting Greece's poultry farmers, even though the country has had no confirmed cases of the disease.

 

Greek television has given widespread coverage to bird flu, after cases of the virulent H5N1 strain of the virus were discovered in nearby countries. Consumers' concerns over the safety of eating cooked poultry meat have led to falling sales and prices.

 

"There has been a sharp drop in poultry products consumption in Greece," says Tzanetos Karamichas, head of the Panhellenic Confederation of Unions of Agricultural Cooperatives.

 

Sales of chicken and turkey in Greece have dropped an average 60 percent since bird flu cases in Turkey and Romania earlier this month, the confederation said.

 

"This isn't justified as we're a European Union state and health checks are very thorough from an early stage," Karamichas adds.

 

The H5N1 strain has devastated poultry industries in South-east Asia and killed more than 60 people. Scientists fear it could mutate into a dangerous strain capable of passing between humans, causing a pandemic.

 

Greece reported Monday one suspected case of bird flu in a turkey on the tiny Greek island of Oinouses, close to the Turkish coast.

 

EU vets Friday said tests were continuing on samples from suspect birds from Greece, but that "the last information available does not indicate the presence of the AI (avian influenza) virus."

 

Bangladesh Thursday said it was banning the import of Greek poultry while on Tuesday, Greece's northern neighbour Bulgaria said it is closing its borders to imported Greek poultry produce.

 

A statement from the EU on consumer concerns about eating poultry referred to the World Health Organization, which has stated: "WHO does not at present conclude that any processed poultry products (whole refrigerated or frozen carcasses and products derived from these) and eggs in or arriving from areas currently experiencing outbreaks of avian influenza H5N1 in poultry pose a risk to public health."

 

Nevertheless, the country's poultry farmers have seen their sales plummet, even before the suspected Greek case.

 

"My sales have fallen by 80 percent since the news of the first bird flu case in Turkey," poultry farmer Yiorgos Moraitis told Dow Jones Newswires.

 

Moraitis operates a poultry farm near Athens with a normal weekly production of 25 metric tons of processed meat. He is worried about the impact on sales in the important period leading up to Christmas.

 

"If the current state of affairs continues, everything is possible, including the closing down of my operations," he said.

 

The average price of fresh chicken in central Athens supermarkets Friday was EUR1.50/kg, down from an average EUR4 per kilo before the bird flu cases in Turkey were first reported.

 

Around 2,000 companies in Greece employing 20,000 people are involved in the rearing of poultry and the processing of poultry products. Total annual production of the sector in Greece amounts to around 180,000 metric tons, valued at around EUR700 million per year.

 

Poultry producers say the sector has lost around EUR5 million per day since the first bird flu cases were reported in countries neighbouring Greece.

 

Producers are trying to hedge their losses and are freezing more of their products. However, the average revenue per kilogram for frozen meat is EUR1 compared with EUR2 for fresh meat.

 

Greek authorities are downplaying the possible economic repercussions of any bird flu outbreak.

 

"A possible bird flu crisis is currently hypothetical," Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis told Dow Jones Newswires.

 

"It's primarily a public health issue and the first response of the government is to protect the public health," he said.

 

"If any financial issues arise (concerning requests for help from affected businesses) we'll deal with them appropriately as they happen," Alogoskoufis said.

 

However, officials from the agricultural and finance ministries met Thursday to discuss ways of dealing with the losses suffered by the poultry industry in recent days.

 

In the event of a widespread outbreak of bird flu, "compensation will be provided (to farmers) if culling is ordered, 50 percent from a ministry agency and 50 percent from the European Union," Agricultural Ministry spokesman Dimitris Yianniris said.

 

Greece says it has an emergency response plan in place to deal with a possible outbreak of bird flu.

 

"The plan primarily involves the ministries of health and agriculture and includes poultry destruction and isolation," Yianniris said.

 

The planned measures to protect the Greek population are made in cooperation with the EU, Tanos Efstathiou, chairman of the operations centre for emergency situations at Greece's Health Ministry told Dow Jones Newswires.

 

The plan was not put into effect after the suspected case on Oinouses. Implementation is pending the final test results, expected next week, by EU scientists.

 

The turkey involved was kept by a retired sailor and was intended for domestic consumption. Tests on some of the other 19 birds at the Oinouses site have so far proved negative for bird flu, as have random tests on poultry throughout Greece.

 

For the time being, precautionary measures have been ordered for Oinouses and the neighbouring islands of Chios and Psara, including the ban on exports of poultry products from all three islands.

 

The EU Tuesday decided to ban poultry imports from the three islands into the rest of the EU.

 

In a move Wednesday to reassure citizens, Greek Health Minister Nikitas Kaklamanis sat down to a lunch of roast chicken while visiting Oinouses.

 

"There is no problem for the residents here, not just for Oinouses, but for all of Greece," he said.