Even as culling of chickens continued in Maharashtra state's Navapur area, where bird flu has broken out, the rest of the Rs30,000 crore poultry industry of India is counting its chickens and eggs and the losses following a countrywide scare that is estimated to have cost the sector Rs1800 crore in two days.
The fear set off by the outbreak in Navapur has resulted in a sharp drop in demand for chickens and eggs across the country and Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and a few Gulf countries announced ban on import of poultry products from India.
During 2004-05, India exported poultry, meat and dairy products worth Rs2,400 crore and the exports in these three categories increased more than sixteen percent during April-October last year, according to official figures.
The major destinations of Indian poultry products export include the Middle East, Africa, Japan and European Union.
All India Poultry Products Exporters' Association officials said exporters have stopped sales after the outbreak of the disease because there is apprehension that importing countries may not accept the consignments.
Initial estimates put the losses of the industry at Rs1800 crore in the two days since news about the bird flu in Navapur poured in on Saturday.
The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is the biggest manufacturer of chickens and eggs followed by Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
Anuradha Desai, chairperson of National Egg Coordination Committee, said the prices of chickens lifted from farms have dropped at a range between 20 to 50 percent and so have the retail business.
What has added to the worries of the poultry industry is that all major Indian air carriers as well as Indian Railways have announced that they have stopped serving chickens and eggs in their dishes as a precautionary measure.
India is the fifth largest producer of eggs in the world and ninth biggest producer of broiler chickens.
Japan has cancelled an order of Rs7 crore from Venkateshawara Hatcheries, India's biggest poultry farm.
All Indian states are strictly monitoring the health of chickens in farms and some of them have halted inflow of poultry products from Maharashtra.
Poultry Federation of India Chief Shashi Kapur rejected claims by Venkateshwara Hatcheries that there is no bird flu outbreak in Navapur and appealed to the poultry industry to cooperate with the government's efforts to contain the disease rather than being in denial mode.
Since the report of bird flu came, Desai has been claiming that it was nothing but the seasonal phenomena which kills chickens every year. But a high security laboratory in Bhopal has confirmed the presence of avian flu in the birds of Navapur, said Kapur.
