Delaware Hit Hard By US Poultry Import Bans - DELAWARE - Foreign bans on US poultry imports are hitting Delaware much harder than the rest of the country.

Delaware has a nearly $60 million poultry export market -- about 12 percent of Delaware's broiler industry.

And most of those exports are sold in China and Hong Kong, which have banned imports of all US birds since February.

The ban followed the discovery of a mild strain of bird flu in Delaware.

The exports are primarily made up of chicken feet and wing tips.

As a result, Delaware companies have been forced to turn those chicken parts into animal food.

Last month, the nation's poultry companies, including those in Delaware, lost a total of $80 million.

But agricultural economists are predicting the current bans on US poultry won't have much more impact on the industry outside Delaware.

Source: eFeedLink - 30th March 2004