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 The steep cuts came as the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed
a second commercial flock of turkeys in South Dakota has been
infected with the H5N2 flu, which can kill nearly an entire flock of
poultry in 48 hours.
Birds in eight other states have tested positive for the same lethal
strain since the beginning of the year, prompting key overseas
buyers such as Mexico and Canada to limit imports of U.S. poultry
and eggs from states and counties with infections. The most damaging
restrictions to the $5.7 billion U.S. export market have been
countrywide import bans imposed by China and South Korea.
"We didn't expect China or South Korea really to take as severe,
drastic action as they did," said Jim Sumner, president of the USA
Poultry & Egg Export Council.
Last year, China and South Korea accounted for about $428.5 million
in export sales of poultry meat and products, according to USDA
data.
The USDA, in a monthly supply and demand report, dropped its
estimate for turkey exports in 2015 to 720 million lbs (327,000
tonnes) from 765 million lbs in March and 804 million last year.
Exports for broiler chickens were pegged at 6.68 billion lbs, down
from 7.1 billion last month and 7.3 billion last year.
Strength in the U.S. dollar, which makes U.S. farm products less
attractive to overseas buyers, makes it difficult for exporters to
expand business in the face of trade restrictions due to bird flu,
the USDA said.
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The number of U.S. infections in poultry has been climbing as
migratory ducks, which are believed to be spreading the virus, are
traveling to northern states after spending the winter farther
south, experts said.
The latest inflected flock of 34,000 turkeys in South Dakota will be
culled to prevent the spread of the disease, according to the USDA.
No human infections have been detected.
(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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