November 17, 2005

 

China offers tax breaks for poultry industry
 

 

China said Wednesday it would offer tax breaks and other measures to companies and individuals involved in poultry businesses to help them counter the negative effects of bird flu outbreaks.

 

Poultry processing and marketing businesses will be exempted from corporate tax this year, and receive value-added tax and export tax rebates, reported major state media, including the official Xinhua News Agency.

 

Businesses and individuals involved in the poultry industry will also receive a reduction or exemption in land-use tax, property tax and vehicle-use tax during the first half of 2006, the Xinhua report said.

 

It said the measures were approved during an executive meeting of the State Council, China's cabinet.

 

The government also pledged to continue fiscal subsidies for vaccinating and culling poultry in outbreak areas and to foot the bill for vaccines, the Xinhua report said.

 

Banks have also been told to cancel fines on major poultry breeding and processing businesses that default on loan repayments during bird flu outbreaks.

 

Also, no region is allowed to block or hinder the distribution of chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry to areas not affected by bird flue outbreaks.

 

The government has already decided to set aside RMB2 billion in this year's budget to stem the spread of bird flu, the Xinhua report said.

 

China has reported at least 11 outbreaks of the virulent H5N1 strain among birds since Oct 19.

 

International and Chinese health experts are currently investigating whether two children who fell ill with pneumonia symptoms in Hunan province are China's first human cases of bird flu. One of the children has already died.

 

"Judging from the antibody test results, we cannot rule out that it is the first human bird flu case," Qi Xiaoqiu, director general of the Disease Prevention & Control Department of the Ministry of Health said this week.

 

Experts have warned that human cases are inevitable if China is unable to stop future outbreaks.