Flu-hit poultry firms get down to business

With the government declaring India free of bird flu, the poultry industry is gearing up to shore up its exports.

The poultry industry, which had come to a standstill in mid-February after the bird flu outbreak, is expecting to cover up at least 70 per cent of its exports this year.

India's annual exports of egg, egg powder and chicken grew by about 15 per cent at Rs 380 crore last year.

The poultry farmers are very enthusiastic and hopeful to see their first round of export consignment this year, which they expect to start within a week after a seven-month lull.

"We are hoping that the export of eggs and egg powder would resume soon," said O P Singh, managing director, Venketeshwara Hatcheries. The company is the largest exporter of poultry products in the country.

Since February, when bird flu broke out, the $7.8 billion poultry industry reported a loss of about Rs 12,000 crore till June-end, including the potential export value of Rs 380 crore.

Had there been no bird flu, India could have shipped about 60 lakh normal eggs and 40 lakh hatching eggs, Singh added. India's chicken exports to South Africa and Middle East constitute a paltry Rs 27 crore.

"It would take six months to bring normalcy to the industry," Singh said and added that the international community would gain confidence on India very soon, as the market is opening after a long period of regular examination.

The country had several outbreaks of bird flu between February 18 and April 18 this year in three out of 29 states in the western and central regions.

Almost all poultry producing states, including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, were affected by the virus.

Authorities had killed more than a million birds to contain the disease and monitored and tested dozens of people for the H5N1 virus.