Europe’s avian =u fears could hurt U. S. poultry industry

The USA Poultry & Egg Export Council has a new advertising campaign — for Romania. The ad, to appear within days, says Romanian consumers should not worry about eating frozen poultry from the USA and that avian L u viruses die when cooked. The campaign aims to counter falling poultry consumption in Romania, where avian L u was recently detected in birds, says council President James Sumner. While export statisticswon’t be available for months, Sumner says anecdotal evidence suggests that U.S. chicken exports could be hurt because of fears abroad that infected poultry might pass the virus to humans. Poultry consumption has reportedly fallen in some European countries. Iraq has banned all chicken imports, even from countries where the deadly H5N1 virus has not been found, including the USA, and Ukraine is considering a ban, Sumner says. Some U.S. companies have lost foreign orders, he says. “ Obviously, this is having an impact that has been felt across the industry,” Sumner says. The U.S. poultry industry exports 15% of its broiler chickens each year. This year’s exports through August were $ 1.4 billion, up 25% from the same period last year, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Russia, the USA’s biggest broiler export market, had sales of $382 million through August. No. 4 Turkey, where infected birds also have been found, had sales of $ 59.4 million. Romania, with $57 million, ranks No. 6. The leading U.S. broiler producers had no comment Wednesday. But their share prices have suffered with the recent spread of avian L u cases from Asia to birds in Turkey, Romania and Croatia. Shares of Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride and Gold Kist are down 2%, 6% and 11%, respectively, since Sept. 30. But Pilgrim this week raised earnings guidance for the fourth quarter because of strong U.S. sales and better prices in Mexico. CEO O. B. Goolsby also said in the short term, avian L u will “ keep demand strong in the international markets for high-quality meat,” from the USA. Yet, Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Pen Jones, who follows Pilgrim, says it’s unlikely U.S. exports will strengthen to Eastern Europe, given falling consumption there. There are no signs that U.S. consumers are turning away from chicken, says Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council. The H5NI virus has so far infected 121 people in four southeast Asian nations, killing 62. Most are thought to have caught it by handling sick birds or their droppings.