According to Financial Tribune, Young Journalists Club reported that the main export destinations for Iranian chicken were Hong Kong, Iraq, Qatar, Vietnam, Taiwan and Macau.

About 50,000 tons of chicken were exported from Iran in the last fiscal year (March 2016-17), down from 80,000 tons in the previous year, registering a 37.5 per cent decline, the head of Broiler Breeders Union said.

"The reason for this decline is that poultry and egg exports from the country were banned due to the outbreak of avian flu," Mohammad Yousefi was quoted as saying by the Persian daily Abrar-e-Eqtesadi.

H5N8, a dangerous strain of the bird or avian flu virus, was first detected in seven provinces late November last year and contained a few months later.