Brazil’s import claims irk local poultry industry

PUNE: The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), an umbrella organisation representing large segments of the country���s poultry industry, is up in arms over a news agency report from Brazil about a huge order for the import of chicken into India.

According to the news report, the Brazilian Association of Chicken Producers and Exporters (ABEF) claimed that the potential for exports to India in the first year could amount to 3 lakh tonnes of unprocessed poultry. It further noted that this amounts to 10% of their global export and India would then overtake Russia, which has till now been the largest importer of Brazilian poultry.

The NECC is agitated that such imports will drastically affect the domestic poultry industry worth Rs 40,000 crore, which is still reeling from the multiple crises of rising input costs and the outbreak of avian flu in the backyard poultry of West Bengal.

Ms Anuradha Desai, chairperson, Venkateshwara Hatcheries group, and chairperson, NECC, pointed out that retail prices in India for processed chicken range between Rs 75-80 per kg (just under $2 per kg) while retail prices in Brazil are at $3.90-8 per kg (approximately Rs 160-320 per kg). These figures do not include the high freight cost.

���The very fact that they are ready to export to India in spite of this vast disparity in prices proves that they are desperate to get into the Indian market,��� Ms Desai said. She added that the NECC would explore if anti-dumping measures could be invoked.

The news agency report quoted the Brazilian agriculture ministry as saying that India���s need to import poultry had increased following the outbreak of bird flu and the subsequent culling of over a million chickens over the last few years.