Weekly Overview: Improving Prospects for Poultry Industries in Russia, South Africa
GLOBAL - Russian poultrymeat output in April reached a record, while the industry in South Africa has received a boost since duties were imposed on imports from Europe. Perhaps it is no coincidence that EU chicken exports are forecast to fall in the coming months. On poultry welfare, we have a report from a recent conference in Norway, a new way of looking at animal well-being and an assessment of standards in Finland.
10 July 2014
3 minute read
By: Starting with news of the markets, meat consumption in the European Union is expected to increase for the rest of 2014 but poultry meat exports are forecast to fall in the coming months, according to a new report from the European Commission.
Output of poultry meat and related by-products in Russia in April is reported to have reached a record level of 337,300 tonnes. Supply shortage and strong demand is behind the recent increase in poultry products in Pakistan - a situation that will not last long, according to an industry spokesman.
In South Africa, anti-dumping duties on imported European chicken are improving prospects for the domestic poultry sector and boosting share values for firms in that area.
Turning to other news, Dr Francoise Wemelsfelder, animal behaviourist and welfare scientist at Scotland's Rural College, has developed new scientific approaches to the study of animals as whole beings, bringing insights from philosophy of mind and social psychology and anthropology into the study of animal emotion.
One of our articles this week is a report on the recent European Poultry Conference in Norway, which explored - among other aspects - some of the welfare challenges for the poultry industry, focusing on the implications of fast growth in today's commercial broilers and keel bone problems in layers.
A leading meat processor in Finland has completed a detailed study of its broiler production chain, which reveals high standards of excellence achieved with voluntary actions that exceed the statutory requirements. HKScan found highly satisfactory levels of bird welfare and food safety.
And finally on influenza news, WHO has updated its report on H5N1 human flu with another two confirmed cases in the last two months - one each in Indonesia and Egypt - bringing the total since 2003 to 667 cases, 393 of whom have died.
The Netherlands has reported no signs of the low-pathogenic H5N3 virus in poultry since December 2013 or the H5N1 virus since February 2014. Two samples taken from poultry at a market in Henan province in China in June tested positive for the low-path H7N9 virus.
