Bangladesh lifts day-old chick import ban

The government has lifted a 17-year-old import ban on day-old chicks in order to stabilise the local chicken market.

The Commerce Ministry allowed 17 local firms to import day-old chicks as poultry prices have increased for the past few months, said a senior official. The withdrawal of the ban, which was imposed in 1992 to protect local poultry farms from bird flu, is expected to reduce the price of chickens in the local market.

The 17 firms have been allowed to import a total of 8 crore 37 lakh of day-old chicks.

However, Bangladesh Poultry Industry Association president Syed Abu Siddique, said lifting the ban would hurt the country's poultry industry.

He said the ministry lifted the ban without consulting the industry, and the move was taken at a time when prices of local day-old chick had declined.

Bangladesh Poultry Khamar Rakka Jatiya Sangram Paishad's general secretary Khandokar Mohammad Mohsin said the importer would not be able to import day-old chicks from India as it was not yet free from bird flu.

Bird flu was found in India last August and chick import from that country would risk Bangladesh's poultry industry of getting the virus, he said.

Current day-old chick prices in the local market are around BDT16-BDT17 (US$0.23-US$0.24) when it was BDT35 (US$0.5) only a month ago.

Importers of day-old chick would need to obtain bird-flu free certificate from the World Health Organisation's office in the respective exporting countries, the commerce ministry said.