French
bird flu crisis seen cutting demand for poultry feed by
330,000 tonnes
Send a link to a friend
[April 05, 2017] PARIS
(Reuters) - About 330,000 tonnes of animal feed will not be needed in
France this year due to the bird flu outbreak that has led to the
widespread culling of duck flocks and an order to partially halt poultry
rearing to stop the virus, animal feed industry group SNIA said on
Tuesday.
|
France has been among the European countries most severely hit by
the highly contagious H5N8 bird flu virus that has spread since late
last year and decimated duck flocks in large parts of southwestern
France, home to foie gras producers.
Nearly 10 million ducks have died, been culled or will not be reared
because of a government decree to leave farms empty until the end of
May in the most infected regions, foie gras producers' group Cifog
estimates.
This would lead to a drop in demand for animal feed of between
240,000 and 250,000 tonnes, including maize (corn) - the main
component of duck feed - and compound feedstuffs, SNIA economist
Bruno Toussaint told Reuters.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/05/images/ads/current/topflight_west_sda_101414.png)
Maize growers had said last month that the fall in demand for the
grain due to bird flu would be about 150,000 tonnes.
The crisis has also hit the chicken industry with an estimated drop
in output of 13.4 million chickens, including 10 million produced
under special labels and 3.4 million standard chickens, Anne
Richard, head of poultry institute ITAVI told Reuters.
That compares with the country's production of 755 million chickens
last year.
The smaller chicken flock would lead to a drop of another 80,000
tonnes in demand for animal feed, bringing the total drop in animal
feed demand due to bird flu this year to about 330,000 tonnes, SNIA
said.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/05/images/ads/current/graue_17_cruze_040317.png)
France produced 20.4 million tonnes of animal feed in 2016.
Chickens are less prone to H5N8 but farmers near infected duck farms
had to cull their birds and stop rearing to avoid a spreading of the
virus.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Gus Trompiz, Greg
Mahlich)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/05/images/ads/current/agland_lda_farm_2015.png)
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/05/images/ads/current/ldn_business_directory_small_2016.png) |