August 18, 2008
India's move to become top Brazilian chicken importer raises heckles
India's poultry organisations are protesting the move by India's government to allow imports of 300,000 tonnes of Brazilian chicken, saying it would hurt domestic producers, India's Business Standard reported.
The Brazilian government earlier this month announced that it had won orders to export 300,000 tonnes of chicken to India.
This meant India would make up 10 percent of Brazilian chicken exports, making it the biggest buyer of Brazilian chicken, surpassing Russia, according to Reuters.
Domestic joint-venture such as Godrej Tyson Foods, could be hurt by these imports, according to India's poultry organisations.
The National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC), a trade body for the industry, argued that Brazil's chickens, which are subsidised, would deny a level playing field to the country's poultry farmers.
Anuradha Desai, chairperson of NECC said the move would only worsen the crisis Indian poultry producers were facing, such as high feed costs.
Increased Brazilian exports to India may be just a temporary measure however; Brazil's agriculture ministry said that the Indian government had decided to import more chickens due to the huge numbers culled in the nation last year during bird flu outbreaks.
Desai however, said Brazilian companies are using that as an excuse to gain a foot-hold in the rapidly expanding domestic market by offering the products initially at a cheaper price, and eventually gain a monopoly, she said.
India is the second largest egg producer and produces the fourth largest number of broilers (birds) in the world.
