|
 Different strains of avian flu have been detected across Asia,
Europe, Africa and in the United States in recent months, leading to
the culling of millions of birds and a flurry of import restrictions
on eggs and chicken meat.
U.S. grain traders such as Bunge Ltd and Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] have
lost business because poultry deaths have reduced feed demand. Some
domestic poultry producers, though, have managed to boost sales by
taking advantage of trading bans that hurt rivals.
Sanderson Farms Inc, the third-largest U.S. poultry producer, said
it sold more chicken to Iraq when Baghdad backed away from Europe's
poultry due to bird flu, or avian influenza (AI), in the bloc.
"They've had more of a problem with AI than we have," Mike Cockrell,
Sanderson's chief financial officer, said about Europe.
Iraq imported 185.6 million pounds (84.2 million kg) of U.S. chicken
meat last year, about 3 percent of total U.S. chicken meat exports.
Data on chicken exports is not yet available for March, when the
United States confirmed its first case of a highly lethal form of
bird flu in commercial poultry in more than a year.
After the finding, South Korea, suffering its own worst-ever
outbreak of bird flu, blocked U.S. poultry and eggs. That shut off
opportunities for U.S. exporters hoping to make sales to cover
shortfalls in South Korea, said Keithly Jones, a senior economist
for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Last month, the USDA cut its forecast for 2017 U.S. egg exports by 6
percent to 305 million dozen because of South Korea's ban.
"We were hoping to expand our market share," Jones said, "but we
came down with mild forms of avian influenza so that squashed that
whole idea."
U.S. grain traders, who were grappling with a global supply glut
before flocks in other countries were culled to contain bird flu,
have faced lower demand for the corn and soybeans that provide feed
for chickens.
Bunge, one of the world's top grain and oilseed traders, told
Reuters that shipments to South Korea for February and March
declined "on the back of reduced feed productions." Shipments have
since been picking up, according to the company.
In March, Cargill said South Korea's outbreak, in which about 35
million birds have been culled, contributed to a decrease in
quarterly earnings in its global animal nutrition unit.
[to top of second column] |
'BIG WIN' FOR BRAZIL
The United States has reported only two cases of highly lethal bird
flu in poultry so far this year and a handful of less-dangerous
cases. U.S. officials have said the risk of the disease spreading to
people is low.
Many trading partners have responded by blocking poultry from U.S.
counties or states with infected flocks, rather than from the entire
country. That localization of bans has kept the impact on
Sanderson's chicken exports to a minimum, Cockrell said.
Still, bird flu is a headwind for the poultry sector, along with
politics, cheaper oil prices that have reduced the buying power of
oil-producing nations that import chicken, and strength in the U.S.
dollar, which makes U.S. farm exports less attractive, Cockrell
said.
One political challenge, he said, is a ban on U.S. poultry by China,
which has halted imports since about 50 million birds died in the
worst-ever U.S. outbreak of avian flu in 2015.
China has reported more than 160 human deaths from bird flu since
October.
For Brazil, the world's top chicken exporter, recent bird flu
outbreaks in other nations have been a "big win" because it is clear
of the disease, said Will Sawyer, a vice-president of food and
agribusiness research for Rabobank.
Brazil's chicken exports rose 3.2 percent to 330,200 tonnes in
February from a year earlier, according to industry association ABPA.
They declined 4 percent in March, it said, mainly because of
temporary import bans on Brazilian meat following a police probe of
the country's top meatpackers.
(Additional reporting by Ana Mano in Sao Paulo; Editing by Jo
Winterbottom and Matthew Lewis)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
