January 13, 2004

Japan Bird Flu Triggers Demand For Imports

Importers and wholesalers were flooded with inquiries from meat processors about the availability of broiler chicken imported from Thailand, Brazil and other countries Tuesday morning.

Today was the first day chicken and chicken eggs were traded since an outbreak of avian flu in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, was announced by the government on Monday.

Domestically raised chicken trades at prices based on the amount of orders placed through the previous trading day. "(As a result,) the price of domestic chicken could be driven down Wednesday and thereafter," said an official at a meat wholesaler in the Tokyo metropolitan area, according to the report.

The wholesale price of chicken eggs remained unchanged Tuesday morning from late last week both in Tokyo and Osaka, with the weighted average price of benchmark M-size chicken eggs from the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (Zen-noh) changing hands at Y85 per kilogram.

"The discovery of chicken influenza has had little impact on chicken egg prices," sources at Zen-noh said.

Wholesale prices of chicken eggs usually plunge at the beginning of the year as eggs laid during the New Year holidays are released onto the market en masse after the vacation. Prices usually bounce back in mid-January.

However, concerns have emerged about a likely drop in demand for domestic chicken eggs following the outbreak of influenza. "We intentionally kept today's wholesale chicken egg prices unchanged," said a source close to Zen-noh's Osaka branch.