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India sniffs a
windfall
By Indrajit Basu
KOLKATA - While the spreading avian flu has hit
poultry exports from China, Taiwan, Thailand and
Indonesia particularly hard, India's poultry products,
which turned uncompetitive a few years back, stand to
gain from the misfortune of these countries.
In
line with major importers such as South Korea and Japan,
India has started closing its doors to poultry imports
from infected regions, but the country's farmers believe
that the scare has offered them a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to break into the markets so recently
dominated by Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, and
even smaller countries such as Myanmar, Vietnam and
Cambodia.
Industry sources say that with rising
global poultry prices, as a result of dwindling poultry
exports from the aggressive exporters in the Asian
region, India is once again competitive. "The west Asian
countries will be the biggest markets for India and the
top items in demand will be hatching eggs, processed
meat and day-old chicks," said an official from
Ventakateshwara Hatcheries, one of India's largest
organized poultry producers. "But we see Indian products
increasingly becoming products of choice in Korea as
well as neighboring countries like Nepal, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Burma [Myanmar]." Others are hoping that
by mid-February, India will shift from virtually zero
poultry exports to a modest global presence.
Although India's poultry exports have never been
worth talking about, the country until a few years back
did manage to export some produce, mainly to West Asian
countries. But owing to the aggressive and competitive
exports of other Asian countries, India lost even that
market.
"Prices will reach at least $1,200 per
ton, at which India is competitive. The domestic demand
itself keeps companies busy. But if exports happen, they
will reduce the glut within the country and improve
prospects overall," industry sources said. Moreover,
"India is still safe because it uses indigenous pure
line birds for breeding," said Malati Puranik, who
advises poultry companies on abattoirs and post-harvest
management.
"But it is still too early to tell
how far India will be able to meet international demand.
There just isn't enough processing capacity available in
India to create a substantial increase in exports,"
Puranik said. Indeed, with just three processing plants
certified to export, the moot point is, to what extent
is India's poultry industry ready to cash in?
"The problem is that most Indian companies are
just not geared towards quality control, which is the
first requirement of exports," said Vinay Adhye of
Agribusiness Solutions, a consultancy company. "Except
for the top three companies, no one is able to export at
a moment's notice without adding to costs significantly.
Therefore, the lack of agility could result in lost
business."
Still, an official at Godrej Agrovet,
the country's second largest poultry processor, said
that India, as a standard operating practice, had put in
place precautionary measures more than 15 days before
the first bird flu deaths were reported overseas.
"Consequently, there's little likelihood of bird flu
being present in Indian poultry at all, which will put
our products in good stead."
Meanwhile, India
swung into action as reports said that the bird flu had
reached Pakistan - sending ripples of fear all across
the sub-continent. In a desperate measure, the
government scrambled to slam the lid on the epidemic by
barring all processing plants from imports and
outsourced birds and products. Even commercial birds
within the country, reared for the market, have been
given Z-grade security, meaning complete isolation. The
country's health ministry said that poultry farms on the
India-Pakistan border had been closed to ensure that the
disease did not spill over.
Until now, there
have been no reported cases of bird flu in the country,
but India has instructed the Indian Veterinary Research
Institute and all regional laboratories to test samples
of products from all organized poultry farms and send
the morbid material to the high security Animal Disease
Lab for confirmation that they are disease free.
All Indian states, too, have been sent
guidelines for prevention and, in the event of an
outbreak, for immediate action. The guidelines include
an immediate halt to the entry of new birds in the flock
from outside sources and strict regulations on the entry
of personnel, material, visitors and vehicles to an area
affected by the disease.
The guidelines mandate
that culled birds and droppings should be buried deep or
incinerated within the affected area. No exchange of any
material and personnel between different farms in the
affected area should be carried out. All farms should
adopt a vigilance system for early detection and
follow-up action.
The government is also setting
up an expert committee of officials from the Department
of Health and the Institute of Communicable Diseases. It
will take preventive measures and ensure surveillance.
The committee will keep a watch on domesticated fowl to
detect if there is a sudden increase in the number of
deaths.
Meanwhile, the first casualty of the flu
fear is the country's famous "chicken tandoori kebabs" -
marinated chicken meat grilled in a special clay oven
called a tandoor. "Tandoori, tangri and tikka
kebabs have to take a back seat, although chicken curry
- which is cooked by boiling and frying the meat - is
safe," said health experts as hotels and restaurants
across the country started reporting dwindling sales of
this delicacy. Top hotels in the country also complained
of negative impacts as most top hotels and good
restaurants serve imported chicken.
(Copyright
2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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