The Hindu Business Line : AP poultry body sees scope for export boom

EVEN as South-East Asia and Pakistan fear a bird flu epidemic, the Andhra Pradesh Poultry Federation (APPF) finds a major opportunity in the form of exports from India.

The federation is of the view that the country could successfully cash in on the sizeable gap in the global market created by the ban on chicken exports from Thailand and Vietnam.

According to the APPF President, Mr K. Narayan Reddy, the ban on Thailand alone creates an opportunity of over $500 million (Thailand caters to the needs of Japan and Korea). Stating that the average exports of Indian chicken products were around Rs 400 crore per annum, Mr Reddy said that the federation expects the revenue to double during the current fiscal since India has the advantage of global approvals for the quality standards of its chicken products.

Speaking to newspersons on Thursday, he said a high-level European Union team that visited the Indian chicken processing plants during the last quarter had approved the quality standards.

The three existing processing plants in the country currently operate at over 20 per cent of capacity. The new opportunity would enable these plants to raise their capacity utilisation levels to 100 per cent, he said, adding that the emergence of new processing plants was also possible.

On the advantages for exports, Mr Reddy said: "There was not a single case of avian influenza or bird flu detected or reported in our country so far. Unlike in neighbouring countries, we have excellent research facilities for disease surveillance and monitoring."

He also said that the Indian poultry industry was one of the most technologically advanced.

"Not only is our production infrastructure most modern, the farms are maintained under strict bio-security environment comparable to the best in Europe and the US," Mr Reddy said.

"It is not proper to compare the Indian poultry scenario with that prevailing in the Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand or even China, where more than 80 per cent of poultry production takes place in backyard farms under unhygienic conditions. India's poultry industry is 3-4 decades ahead of these countries. Even the Pakistani poultry industry is much behind and does not have the facilities that are available in India."

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