February 12, 2004

Indonesia's Belfood Sees Poultry Sales Suffer On Bird Flu

Indonesian frozen food manufacturer PT Belfoods, whose products include chicken nuggets, crispy fried chicken and chicken wings and fillets under the brands Belfoods, Delfarm and 222, reported a fall in poultry sales following the bird flu outbreak in the country and a ban of its products from Japan.

Initially, the announcement of bird flu in the country pushed the company's sales by 18.45 percent. But sales dropped by 21.73 percent in the first week of February, according to managing director Sri Sumiyarsi.

Also affecting the company has been the poultry import ban slapped on Indonesia by Japan. The company sent three containers (about 70 metric tons) of processed chicken to Japan last October, but they were detained because of Newcastle Disease.

"Now, after the government announced bird flu in Indonesia, Japan has completely banned poultry products (from Indonesia)," said Belfoods marketing manager Aryo Puntodewo.

He said that because the bird flu virus found here was the H5N1, which is a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza, Japan could ban Indonesian poultry products for three years after the last recoded case of the disease, as agreed in a memorandum of understanding between the two governments.

"Our customers in Japan have asked us to send goods, but their government refuses to let any products in," said Sri.

Sri said there had been no cases of bird flu found in the chickens raised by its supplier, PT Sierad Produce.

A total of 51 regencies in 10 provinces have been affected by the bird flu outbreak. The government recently ordered a cull, amounting to approximately 10 million chickens, to stop the spread of bird flu in the country.

Belfoods sells chicken products in supermarkets and also supplies several fast-food restaurant chains, namely McDonald's, Wendy's and Kentucky Fried Chicken.