October 21, 2005

USDA: Egypt's update on bird flu

The Ministry of Agriculture will issue a decree soon to ban the importation of poultry by-products, including poultry feathermeal. It is not yet clear whether the ban will be applied to all countries or only to countries that have recorded occurrence of avian influenza. Egypt imports between 30,000 to 40,000 MT of feathermeal annually from the EU and the United States.

According to Ministry of Agriculture officials, the poultry flocks in Egypt continue to be under surveillance. To date, there have been no incidents of AI. The government continues to monitor entry points on the path for migratory birds, and hunting of migratory birds is prohibited. In addition, Egypt is trying to produce a vaccine for AI to inoculate Egyptian flocks.  

Annual Egyptian broiler production is estimated at 720,000,000 head or 720,000 MT, while egg production is estimated at 7.2 billion.

Poultry meat per capita consumption is estimated at 10 kg. In 1989, the Egyptian government banned the importation of poultry and poultry products in order to protect the local production.

Prior to the ban, total poultry products imports were estimated at 100,000 MT, out of which between 50,000 and 60,000 MT of leg quarters were imported from the United States. 

In 1997, the Egyptian government lifted the ban on frozen poultry imports (to comply with its trade obligations under the Uruguay Round of GATT). The concessions package required Egypt to replace the ban with a tariff rate of 80 percent, which was to be phased out over a period of ten years. 

In 2004, Egypt reduced the import tariffs on frozen poultry and poultry products to 32 percent. However, due to the increased import prices for frozen poultry and poultry products, the 32 percent duty makes imports from the United States non-competitive.

For the full USDA report, click here.