February 29, 2020

India's chicken sales halved due to virus rumour

A false rumour that the coronavirus can be spread through chickens has slashed Indian poultry sales by almost 50%, supplier Godrej Agrovet Ltd. said Thursday.

"A lot of misleading posts on social media, especially on WhatsApp, have created a false impression that humans can contract the coronavirus through chickens," Managing Director B.S. Yadav said.

According to Yadav, sales have fallen to around 40 million birds per week from 75 million about four weeks ago.

Other Indian poultry firms including Venky's have also cited rumours spread by social media for a fall in poultry-related sales.

A knock-on fall in prices has hurt farmers as well, Yadav said, noting farmers are now getting just 30-35 rupees (US$0.42-$0.49) per bird, down from 80-85 rupees.

Some farmers have already started to cut production, as they cannot afford animal feed and other costs of keeping a large inventory of birds, Yadav said.

"Even if people gradually realise that chicken consumption has nothing to do with the coronavirus, sales will take a bit of time to pick up as one can't raise chicken production overnight," Yadav said.