February 11, 2004

US, Brazil Poultry Exports To Benefit From Asian Bird Flu

Former buyers of Asian poultry, now banned because of the bird flu outbreak, will likely turn to Brazil and the US to meet demand, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

"The United States and Brazil are expected to benefit from increased access to these markets, but U.S. gains are expected to be limited by constraints on the ability to competitively price certain products into these markets," the USDA said in its February supply and demand report.

The USDA forecast for broiler exports in 2004 was raised in the February report to 5.275 billion pounds, up from the 5.105-billion-pound prediction made in January. The forecast for U.S. broiler production was also raised and is now set at 33.542 billion pounds, up from 33.25 billion pounds.

The U.S. also suffered a recent outbreak of avian influenza in Delaware, but USDA officials have said that the disease appears to be a low-pathogenic type and has been effectively contained.

The USDA said Tuesday in the report that it expects the Delaware outbreak to cause only a limited, short-term disruption to U.S. exports.

The report stressed that, "based on previous experience, it is expected that any nationwide bans currently in place will be regionalized barring any further outbreaks, permitting the flow of exports from states unaffected by the disease outbreak."