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Poultry industry suffers Rs5.4bn loss
KARACHI, March 31: Pakistan's poultry industry has
suffered a loss of Rs5.4 billion due to avian
influenza that spread in November-December 2003 in
and around Karachi's poultry farms.
This was revealed by the State Bank of Pakistan in
its second quarterly report for 2003-04 on the
basis of claim by the Pakistan Poultry Association
(PPA).
This loss when adjusted in the value-addition
shows a decline of 1.3 per cent in the growth of
livestock sub-sector. This had dampened the
chances of achieving the target growth of the
livestock sub-sector, unless other contributors to
the livestock sub-sector (90 per cent) exceed the
targeted growth.
The sale price of almost all poultry products in
the wholesale market during January-February 2004
remained far less than the cost of production for
many poultry farmers. This has led to concerns of
a shortage of poultry products in future, raising
the prospects of a sharp spike in poultry product
prices when the concerns over the bird flu
subside, the SBP report said.
Avian influenza has badly affected the poultry
industry in several Asian countries, including
South Korean, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia,
Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and China, the
report added.
Nonetheless, even reports on the health risks
faced by other countries have severely hit
Pakistan's poultry industry. The virus, the report
said, could not affect Punjab (accounting for 73
per cent of total poultry business) and the
Frontier province, but even these were impacted by
the countrywide fall in demand for chicken
products.
At one stage, the retail prices reached a ten-year
low. In Pakistan there are around 300 million
chicken birds and more than 20,000 farms with
Rs60-70 billion investment in the poultry sector,
the report said.
The DAWN |
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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