International Egg and Poultry Review - By the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service - This is a weekly report looking at international developments concerning the poultry industry, this week looking at currency rates against the US Dollar.

Currency Rates and U.S. Poultry Exports

Poultry exports are expected to be stronger in 2004 when compared to 2003. Factors improving poultry exports include the resolution of trade policy questions with Mexico and Russia, restrictions in place on exports of U.S. and Canadian beef, and the weakness of the U.S. dollar against a number of currencies.

On Monday, January 12, 2004 the Euro reached a record high near $1.29 before easing down to $1.2769. By Monday January 19 the Euro was $1.21690 ($1 was equal to .8218 Euro).

Currency Comparisons to US Dollar
	Jan 19, 2004	Jan 20, 2003	% chg
United Kingdom Pound	0.5561	0.62030	-10%
Canadian Dollar	1.3014	1.53490	-15%
Euro	0.8218	0.93850	-12%
Japanese Yen	106.700	117.94000	-10%
Brazilian Real	2.82900	3.40740	-17%
Source: USDA/Economic Research Service, various news wires.

Update Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

HPAI (H5N1)has been confirmed in South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. South Korea, December 2003, up to Jan 14 – 1.8 million birds slaughtered. After a nine day lull, on January 13 a new case was discovered, resulting in the slaughter of 18,000 birds at the farm and plans to slaughter more than 900,000 more chickens and ducks within a 1.9-mile radius of the farm.

Japan, December 2003, 6,000 table egg layers died and the remaining 35,000 birds were slaughtered.

Vietnam, January 2004, to Jan 15 over 1 million birds slaughtered. Avian influenza has been found in 20 of Vietnam's 64 provinces. WHO has confirmed five human deaths from the avian flu. At the end of 2003 Viet Nam had 185 million chickens.

Unconfirmed: AI (H5N2) was detected in Taiwan in January, resulting in the death/slaughter of, 55,000 chickens on two farms Fowl Cholera and bronchitis are having a severe impact in Thailand. Thailand, the world’s fourth largest poultry exporter, states they do not have any form of avian influenza. A combination of severely cold weather and an ongoing outbreak of fowl cholera has effected flocks in Thailand. Estimates have ranged from 850,000 to 1.5 million chickens killed under epidemic controls.

In 2003 an outbreak of H7N7 in the Netherlands resulted in the slaughter of over 30 million birds. Source: World Health Organization, United Nations, various news wires.

Mexico: Poultry meat prices could increase due to the BSE scare

The President of the Poultry Producers Association in Mexico, Cesar de Anda, indicated that the tendency of consumers to substitute beef for poultry, due to the BSE scare, could result in price increases of about ten percent during the next few weeks. He explained that at the end of 2003, domestic demand increased but there is no information that it was due to BSE or the public campaign that was carried out to consume chicken for Christmas.

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Source: USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service - 20th January 2004