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 China and India

China

China has had several outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 since mid-October, beginning in China’s Inner Mongolia region and then occurring in Anhui, Hunan, Liaoning and Hubei provinces.

Liaoning province has had three of the last four outbreaks reported in China. The latest outbreak was reported in Hubei province on November 11, 2005. Public health officials were concerned that unapproved vaccines may have been used in Liaoning province. In Heishan county, Liaoning Province, officials culled six million poultry on Saturday November 5 through noon on Sunday November 6. All poultry within a 3 km radius of the outbreak site were slaughtered. By November 13, Government departments had culled over 10 million domestic birds in the infected areas. China is also trying to vaccinate all its poultry nationwide. According to one official, China currently has about 5.2 billion poultry.

On November 13, the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine announced it would begin spot checks on processed poultry in 16 provincial areas: Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanghai, Zhehiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Liaoning, Guangdong, Guangxi, Qinghai and Xinjiang. Inspectors will ensure that no birds come from regions affect by avian influenza. Tough penalties will be imposed on companies which do not have food production permits of poultry product producers.

Source: news wires, UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

India: Poultry Export Opportunities

India has a large poultry industry. According to the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying Annual Report 2004-2005, egg production in India was 40.40 billion in 2003-04, ranking fifth in world egg production. Production is expected to increase to 41.00 billion during 2004-05. Chicken meat production totaled 1.65 million tons in 2004, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

India has not had an outbreak of the HPAI H5N1 that has affected several countries in Asia. The major poultry exporters in the region, China and Thailand, have been banned by a number of countries from exporting uncooked chicken due to outbreaks in those countries. India has used this opportunity to work to expand poultry and egg exports.

Inspectors from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare approved the import of Indian poultry that meets Japanese standards and is certified by the Export Inspection Council of India (EIC). The EIC is India’s Commerce Ministry’s quality certification body for exports and has Export Inspection Agencies across India. This is the first time a developed country has formally recognized EIC India’s certification for poultry products. Japan had been importing the majority of its poultry from Brazil.

India has taken a proactive stance in the prevention of an outbreak of HPAI H5N1. In October, 2005 the Animal Husbandry and Wild Life Departments asked poultry farmers and hatchery owners near wetland to move their birds at least 5 – 10 km away from reservoirs. The government has issued guidelines for prevention of avian influenza in poultry and has been testing samples for the last two years.
Source: news wires, Government of India Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

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Source: USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service - 15th November 2005