November 17, 2005

Europe's poultry demand recovering after bird flu

Europe's poultry demand is slowly recovering to pre-bird flu scare levels even as news of the bird flu no longer hogs the headlines there.

Domestic poultry sales in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands were nearly back to usual levels this week, while in France, Italy and Hungary, they remained down although there are positive signs of recovery.

In France, Europe's largest poultry industry with an annual turnover of EUR6 billion (US$7.20 billion), sales recovered slightly after a month of sharply reduced sales over bird flu fears. In the week ending Nov 5, it fell 15 percent from last year's sales, which French retail federation FCD spokesman Veronique Legoff already said is "clearly an improvement".

Meanwhile, Italian farmers federation Coldiretti said on Nov 13 that poultry sales remained down although weekly poultry price rose slightly after months of decline, indicating that demand may recover soon.

Italy's poultry meat sales have slumped by up to 60 percent and the cost of the bird flu scare is estimated to have cost the local industry some EUR400 million, according to the Confederation of Italian Farmers.

In Britain and Germany, poultry sales are now normal.

The deadly H5N1 bird flu strain has resulted in the culling of millions of birds and the deaths of more than 60 people in Asia. Sales of poultry also fell sharply in some European countries after the H5N1 reached there last month.