Indian poultry producers hope to profit from beef ban

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  Freeimages.com/bugdog

  A beef ban in the Indian state of Maharashtra is expected to give a boost to the poultry industry.

  From WATTAgNet:
  Poultry firms expect demand to pick up after a ban on beef in the Indian state of Maharashtra, with other states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also aiming to toughen laws on livestock slaughter.
  India is the world's second largest beef exporter and fifth biggest consumer, although its majority Hindu community views cows to be sacred, and Modi's BJP is pushing for legal steps to "protect and promote the cow".
  Maharashtra, which has a population of about 110 million, widened its ban to cover meat from bulls and bullocks. The states of Jharkhand and Haryana, also ruled by the BJP, are looking for ways to discourage slaughter of livestock.
  Such curbs, which critics call the outcome of Modi loyalists pushing a Hindu agenda, spell good news for many poultry farms. India consumed 2.3 million metric tons of beef in 2014 until October -- higher than all of 2013 -- while exports were 1.95 million metric tons in the same period.
  "We are expecting chicken consumption to increase in Maharashtra after a month, as it is a direct alternative to beef," said Prasanna Pedgaonkar, deputy general manager at chicken processor Venky's.
  Pedgaonkar expects the measure to push up sales 5 percent for his firm from a current daily figure of 1,500 metric tons.
  Overall consumption in the state could rise 5-8 percent within a month, said Dinesh Bhosale, the South Asia sales head of AB Vista, an animal feed supplier based in Britain.
  Even without a ban on beef, which is particularly popular in the southern and northeastern parts of India and tends to be cheaper than mutton and chicken, India's poultry output has been scaling annual records, as higher incomes boost demand for meat in the world's second-most populous country.
  Broiler production will hit a new high of 3.9 million metric tons in 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated in October.
  Owners of Mumbai shops that sell chicken say the effect of the beef ban has yet to show up in prices, although demand is starting to pick up despite the onset of summer, when consumption usually slows.