Bangladesh relaxes egg import rules in bid to lower prices

Bangladesh's government has relaxed its rules for the import of chicken, duck and other poultry eggs, hatching eggs and day-old chicks, in an effort to control rising prices in the domestic market, according to the country's commerce ministry. Importers will no longer need to receive prior permission from the ministry to import such goods.
Chicken egg prices have increased from Tk 32 (US$0.39) per four pieces in mid-August to Tk 42 (US$0.51) per four pieces on September 16. "All other previous conditions related to import of all kinds of eggs will remain in force," said Commerce Secretary Ghulam Hussain. "Businessmen will not be able to import eggs from any bird flu-prone country. The imported eggs will be checked strictly at the customs stations."
Daily demand for eggs across Bangladesh is 20 million, and domestic production stands at 10 million per day, according to data from the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association.

Bangladesh poultry feed industry calls for corn export ban

Bangladesh's poultry feed industry has called for a ban on corn exports in an attempt to stabilize the domestic prices of poultry and eggs, according to reports, saying that rising feed prices will otherwise continue to affect the market.
Poultry feed prices have increased 80 to 100 percent in the last month, said Feed Industry Association of Bangladesh President Ihtehsham B. Shahjahan. Right now, the government allows for conditional corn exports — an exporter can sell to another country if they can get a minimum price of US$325 or more per metric ton.

Breeders' Association of Bangladesh President Moshiur Rahman said there has been a price increase in corn, soya and other raw materials for poultry feed in the international market due to a significant decrease in corn production caused by natural disasters. As a result, the prices of eggs and chicken on the Bangladesh market have increased by nearly 40 percent in the last year. "If the government does not impose ban on the export of the locally produced maize, the poultry feed will be costlier and the prices of poultry birds and eggs will rise further," said Rahman.

Bangladesh poultry farmers receiving waivers on bank loans

Bangladesh poultry farmers will receive interest waivers on their bank loans as part of the government's plan to revitalize the industry in the wake of ongoing avian influenza challenges, according to reports.
The waiver is part of an extension from the ministry of fisheries and livestock. "The foreign businessmen in Bangladesh's poultry industry are taking loan at 4–5 percent interest, while our businessmen pay 15–16 percent interest," said the ministry. "So, the foreigners are expanding business very fast and sending a significant amount of money abroad." The high domestic interest rates have caused price hikes in chicken and eggs.
Sector leaders said nearly 47 percent of local poultry farms have closed in the last one-and-a-half years due to spread of avian influenza. In that time, the number of poultry farms has dropped from 114,763 to 60,824. "After incurring massive losses during the last one-and-a-half years, none has the capacity to inject fresh money," said Convener of the Bangladesh Poultry Industry Coordination Committee Moshiur Rahman. "So, we immediately need rescheduling of our bank loans so that we can arrange new loans from banks."

Bangladesh still struggling to recover from 2007 bird flu outbreak

Bangladesh's poultry industry is still struggling to recover from a 2007 outbreak of bird flu that closed two-thirds of the country’s 150,000 related businesses and left half of the 5 million people who earned their income from it unemployed, according to reports.
Roughly 2.3 million chickens have been culled as a result of 550 avian influenza outbreaks since 2007. There were 171 outbreaks in 2011, and 21 so far in 2012. The most deadly year was 2008, with 226 outbreaks, according to the government’s Department of Livestock Services. Since 2008, farmers forced to kill their birds due to suspected H5N1 infections have been paid anywhere from US$0.49 for baby chicks to more than US$2 for older birds, but they say it's not enough. “Farmers often do not get the compensation, or get it [late] and face hassles to get it, resulting [in them] often selling the sick chicken in the markets, which is spreading the disease...and also threatening the public health,” said Syed Abu Siddique, president of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association.
The government has said it is doing the best it can. “We are doing strong surveillance, with our full effort to protect the industry, and every farmer gets the compensation if chickens on their farm are detected [with] bird flu,” said S M Nazrul Islam, the director of Bangladesh's Avian Influenza Preparedness and Response Project and a senior official of Department of Livestock Services.
Prices are going up, say industry experts, and the country may need to rely on imports soon. Smaller domestic supplies have contributed to a price increase from US$0.27 for four eggs in August 2011 to US0.42 the same time in 2012, while the price of chicken has gone up 13 percent to US$2 per kilogram in the same period, according to the government. The experts say that improving public awareness, and bio-security on small farms — the measures farmers take to protect their animals from disease, or prevent an infection from spreading if it does break out, including quarantining sick animals, decontaminating equipment, and killing rodents — could help restart the poultry industry in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh egg, broiler prices continue to rise

Egg prices in Bangladesh have continued to rise in spite of the government's attempts to offset costs by loosening import restrictions, according to reports.
In the country's capital, eggs are selling for Tk 110–120 (US$1.34–$1.46) per dozen, up from Tk 80–85 (US$0.98–$1.04) per dozen in May. The daily egg supply stands at 150,000–160,000 pieces a day against Bangladesh's demand for 180,000 pieces, but prices are too high in other countries to make exporting a profitable venture, according to traders. In India, for example, a 40 percent drop in production due to bird flu outbreaks has caused egg prices to rise 67 percent, to roughly Rs 4 (US$0.09) each. Add in transportation and tax costs to exported eggs, and potential goods to Bangladesh aren't seeing profits.
Broiler chicken prices have also increased, to Tk 175–190 (US$2.13–$2.32) per kilogram, compared to Tk 145–150 (US$1.77–1.83) at the beginning of June. Overall, poultry sector leaders attribute the increase to the closure of 100,000 of the country's 150,000 poultry farms during the last five years, due in part to bird flu outbreaks.

Bangladesh considering egg, poultry imports to stabilize prices

Bangladesh authorities are considering allowing egg and day-old chick imports from India in spite of avian influenza concerns, as the country's domestic feed costs and bird flu troubles of its own have caused market prices to rise.
Myanmar and Thailand are also being considered as potential import markets, as their poultry sectors are thriving, according to traders. The prices per egg and per kilogram of chicken have risen by around 10 percent and 30 percent, respectively, to some Tk 10 (US$0.12) and Tk 165 (US$2.02) in the retail market. Local poultry farmers have also increased the price of a day-old chick by Tk 15 (US$0.18) to Tk 65 (US$0.80) on average, though they have been getting a 20 percent government subsidy on power tariffs since 1992, said industry sources.
"We are considering the proposal to resume import of eggs and day-old chicks for a limited period, as their local prices have already gone out of purchasing capacity of the majority consumers," said an official at the Bangladesh Ministry of Commerce. The problem, said the government, is that most of the Asian poultry-producing countries have records of bird-flu outbreaks in recent years, causing them to weigh the benefits and the risks of trade.
An estimated 6,000 poultry farms have been closed in Bangladesh since the beginning of 2012 due to avian influenza and high feed costs, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service.

Bangladesh raises concerns over India egg imports, avian influenza

Bangladesh's poultry industry has raised concerns over egg imports from India, a bird flu-affected country, saying that such imports from a country not free from bird flu widen the risk of the spread of avian influenza locally.
In November 2011, Bangladesh's commerce ministry allowed Dhaka-based Faria Enterprise Ltd. to import 10 million hatching eggs from India. In October 2010, the ministry allowed the same company to import 10 million day-old chicks from India and other countries with a deadline of June 2011, but recently extended that deadline to June 2012. "Being a bird flu-affected country, we cannot export our poultry products," said Moshiur Rahman, convener of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee. "On the other hand, we are importing poultry products from another bird flu-affected country."
The industry isn't against poultry imports, according to Rahman, but given the current troubles in Bangladesh with avian influenza, imports should come from places without bird flu troubles of their own — not, for example, the border areas of India, where exports to Bangladesh likely come from, and where avian influenza is a high risk. The country is currently importing half the supply needed to satisfy the local daily demand of 35 million eggs due to challenges caused by bird flu.

Bangladesh poultry industry faces bird flu, high feed prices

Bangladesh's poultry industry is facing significant challenges from bird flu and high feed prices, as well as a lack of government oversight, according to farmers, harming producers and driving them out of business. Nearly 6,000 poultry farms were shut down between November 2011 and February due to either avian influenza or higher feed prices, according to the Bangladesh Poultry Industry Association. The country had 114,763 poultry farms in 2009 but, following the spread of bird flu, the number of farms declined to 74,000 in 2010 and 64,000 in 2011. According to the Department of Livestock Services, between November 2011 and February around 69,000 chickens were culled and 70,342 eggs were destroyed due to outbreaks of avian influenza. In addition, without government oversight, some producers are causing poultry prices to skyrocket. According to the Bangladesh Poultry Industry Association, the price of a one-day-old broiler baby bird has increased to Tk 65-75 (US$0.79-0.92) from Tk 25-26 (US$0.31-0.32) and the price of a one-day-old layer baby chick has increased to Tk 85-90 (US$1.04-1.10) from Tk 20-22 (US$0.24-0.27) since the start of 2012. The poultry feed price of broilers has increased to Tk 42-44 (US$0.51-0.54) from Tk 32-34 (US$0.39-0.41) and feed for a layer has increased to Tk 36-38 (US$0.44-0.46) from Tk26-28 (US$0.32-0.34) per kilogram since the beginning of 2012.

Bangladesh plans poultry industry tax break extension

Bangladesh's National Board of Revenue is considering further tax breaks for the country's poultry sector that may run until 2025, according to reports.
The current tax holiday is set to end in 2013, but poultry association president Syed Abu Siddique said that 30% of the industry has been affected by bird flu and requires an extension to recoup losses. The industry is also calling for a withdrawal of the existing 5% tax on imported poultry feed.

Industry group: Bangladesh should take bolder steps to contain bird flu

The Bangladesh Poultry Farm Protection National Committee has blamed the country’s Ministry of Fisheries And Livestock for the spread of avian influenza, according to The Daily Star, a national newspaper.
The association’s general secretary, Khandaker Muhammad Mohsin, said in a written statement that the minister does not understand the problems faced by the country’s poultry industry. The ministry needs to train poultry farmers in influenza prevention and general biosecurity, he added.

Bangladesh poultry leaders protest egg imports

Leaders of Narsinghdi district chapter of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association lifted the barricades they had erected across the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in protest of the government's decision to import eggs from India.
The poultry businessmen blocked the highway at Bhilainagar on September 8, beginning at 12 p.m., stopping hundreds of vehicles. The highway was cleared for traffic at 2:30 p.m.
The disgruntled traders say they will go for wider movement and demonstrations if the government doesn't reverse the decision within a week.
Earlier this month Commerce Minister Farukh Khan warned entrepreneurs that permission would be given to import chicks if hatchery owners failed to reduce their prices in the local market. His warning came as imports of eggs, despite protests, had successfully lowered prices in the domestic market.