January 19, 2004

 

 

Thailand Poultry Sales Plunge Over Bird Flu Concerns

 

Poultry sales in Thailand have plunged in stores and restaurants across the country over concerns of bird flu spreading across the region despite authorities insisting that Thailand remains bird flu free.

 

Shoppers at a major discount retailer, preparing for feasts to celebrate the lunar New Year this week, have shunned chicken in favor of fish and pork, the Manager newspaper said.

Pork sales at retail chain Siam Makro Plc have jumped by up to 60% as bird flu wreaks havoc at poultry farms elsewhere in Asia, the store's managing director, Suchada Ithijarakul, was quoted as saying.

 

"Many customers decided to use fish instead of chicken for the offerings in the worship of their ancestors" for Chinese New Year celebrations, the newspaper quoted Suchada as saying.

 

Store representatives couldn't immediately be reached for contact.

 

The newspaper also quoted sources from Yum Restaurants International Co., which manages Thailand's KFC fast food chain, as saying its overall sales have slumped by 10% and could drop further if the outbreak spreads.

 

Some Thai poultry farmers claim that millions of chickens have died from bird flu in recent weeks. But officials have said the fowl died from cholera and seasonal weather changes that have left them vulnerable to other infections.

 

The chicken sales drop reflects growing public distrust in the Thai government's safety measures to guard local farms from the disease, which has been passed from chickens to humans in Vietnam, resulting in five deaths.

Suchada said her store would demand government safety certificates from its chicken suppliers to help quell customers' fears.

 

Meanwhile, the director general of Thailand's Department of Disease Control at the public health ministry, Jaran Trinvuthipong, Monday echoed government claims that there is no evidence of a bird flu outbreak in Thailand.

 

"If any case is found, the public will be immediately informed," he told reporters. "We have no intention of covering up this kind of news."

 

His remarks came after local media reported that a man who cleaned pigeon droppings from a Chinese shrine in Ayuthaya city, 70 kilometers north of Bangkok, allegedly died from bird flu.

 

Thailand is the world's fourth-largest chicken exporter, according to government figures. It shipped out 500,000 tons of chicken worth 52 billion baht (US$1=39.035) in 2003, and has set a target of about 600,000 tons for this year.