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Kuwait has re-imposed the ban on import of Indian poultry products following the recent outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu in the north-eastern state of Tripura.
The Department of Animal Husbandry, under the Ministry of Agriculture, had confirmed the latest outbreak of avian influenza at the State poultry farm in Gandhigram, Tripura in mid-January this year.
“In the wake of incidence of outbreak of H5N1 virus in Tripura on January 4, 2016, the Government of Kuwait has imposed a ban on import of poultry products from India,” said the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) on its website on Wednesday.
Exports hit Though Kuwait accounts for a miniscule portion of India’s poultry exports, the re-imposition of the ban by the Persian Gulf nation could add to the concerns of the domestic poultry sector which is already reeling under the impact of high feed costs and volatile realisations.
In October last year, Kuwait had lifted the ban on Indian imports of poultry products that was imposed sometime in 2013, following a report by the World Organisation for Animal Health that India was free from the highly pathogenic avian influenza. India had declared itself free from avian influenza in July last year.
Exports of India’s poultry products in the first nine months of the current financial year have grown by about a fifth to ₹584 crore from ₹484 crore in the corresponding last year, according to provisional estimates by Apeda.
Farm compartmentalisation C Panneerselvam, Managing Director of Namakkal-based Abi Egg Traders, that exports to many West Asian countries, told BusinessLine that it is high time the Union Government implemented compartmentalising farms and zoning of regions to ensure that exports are not hit.
“This move will ensure that the impact of the flu-hit area is restricted and does not affect the entire industry,” Panneerselvam said. The Centre should take up the issue with the countries concerned and help the industry which is already losing out on the exports front, he added.
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