Financial crisis hits Bangladesh poultry sector

BANGLADESH - Bangladesh's $833-million poultry industry, yet to overcome the bird flu disaster of 2003, is reeling under a financial crisis due to declining demand and overproduction, reports Xinhua.

At least 10,000 broiler farms and 50 "doc" (day old chicken) breeding hatcheries across the country have been closed down since the outbreak of bird flu in 2003.

In the past year, the market price of a doc was about taka 10 (16 cents) as against the previous price of taka 15.

The Financial Express reported Saturday that the local price of broilers, which fell sharply during 2003, was still to reach the pre-bird flu level.

About 3.5 million people in the country are employed in the poultry sector that adds a value worth some taka 50 billion ($833 million) to the country's GDP.

Some breeder hatcheries have allegedly been compounding the situation through excess supply of docs in the market, resulting in huge monetary losses every month for both hatcheries and farmers as the prevailing market prices of docs and broilers are well below the cost of production.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service via New Kerala
calendar icon 21 February 2005
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