November 9, 2006

Indian poultry exports to pick up by next month 

Demand for Indian poultry exports should pick up by December 2006, a senior government official said on Wednesday (Nov 9).

Indian poultry was banned by several countries rafter an outbreak of bird flu early this year. India declared itself free of bird flu in August this year.

The situation is expected to pick up once countries restart imports in December, Charusheela Sohoni, secretary of the department of Animal Husbandry said. However, there would definitely be an impact on chicken exports.

Before the bird flu outbreak, poultry exports were 3.26 billion rupees (US$73 million) in the financial year ended March 2006, double the 1.54 billion rupees (US$34.45 million) in 2004/05.

Sohoni said India had tightened surveillance for bird flu during winter, when migratory birds migrate to India from the European winter. Other anti-bird flu measures include the training of poultry workers to handle outbreaks.

India has also decided to heed the calls of the domestic poultry industry and study the merits of putting a cap on corn exports.

It would also seek to lower import duties on feedstock to ensure easy availability.

Demand for feedstock has been steadily rising in the western state of Maharashtra as the poultry industry staged a strong recovery from bird flu.