Indonesia bans chicken imports from United States

Indonesia bans chicken imports from United States

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia has joined many other Asian countries to slap temporary
bans on chicken imports from the United States, following the
discovery of two birds with avian influenza (AI) in that country.

"We decided to suspend chicken imports (from the U.S.) on
Monday, including great-grandparent chicks, grandparent chicks
and chicken meat," Director of Animal Health Tri Satya Putri
Naipospos H., at the Ministry of Agriculture said on Wednesday,
on the sidelines of a seminar on AI.

The ban followed the discovery of two birds with AI in the
U.S. northeastern state of Delaware. Other countries that have
banned chicken imports from the U.S. are Malaysia, Singapore,
South Korea, Japan and Russia.

Industrial players said the import ban would further burden
the country's poultry industry, which is already heavily battered
by the outbreak of AI, given the fact that the U.S. is the main
supplier of great grandparent and grandparent chicken -- or high
quality breeders -- to Indonesia.

Tri said following the import bans, Indonesia could switch to
imports from the Netherlands, Germany and France.

Elsewhere, Tri said the government had agreed to delay the
distribution of controversial China-made vaccines for a month to
follow advice from experts who called for a clinical test of the
vaccines before being distributed.

However, she warned of the consequence of the distribution
delay.

"More of our poultry might get infected with AI as local
producers are not yet able to fulfill the local needs," she said,
adding the Chinese vaccines imported at the government's request
will undergo clinical tests in a government laboratory in Gunung
Sindur, Bogor.

The delay came after the government came under pressure from
the local media, which extensively quoted experts who doubted the
efficacy of the vaccines and feared that the vaccines could cause
new diseases.

The government has authorized state-owned PT Bio Farma to
import vaccines to cover the shortage in the country. It has also
appointed Pusat Veterinaria Farma (Pusvetma) in Surabaya, PT
Vaksindo Satwa Nusantara in Bogor and PT Medion in Bandung to
produce the vaccine locally.

According to Tri, Bio Farma has been ordering vaccines from
Intervet in the Netherlands and the first shipment was expected
to arrive sometime next week.

Asked whether the Dutch-made vaccines should undergo clinical
tests before being distributed to farmers, Tri said "to be fair",
the vaccines were supposed to undergo a similar clinical test as
well.

Separately, Bio Farma's marketing director Hasbullah told the
Post the firm plans to import some 30 million doses from Intervet
and might sell them for about Rp 300 (35 U.S. cents) plus value-
added tax per dose.

With regards to the Chinese vaccines already imported by Bio
Farma, they will be sold for Rp 230 plus VAT per dose, except for
small-scale farmers who can obtain the vaccines free of charge,
Hasbullah said.

According to him, the firm had imported about 3.6 million
doses of vaccines from China's manufacturer Qilu Animal Health
Product Factory in Qinan. Before placing order with the firm, Bio
Farma and a government team inspected the firm's production
facilities last month and found that the firm was able to produce
efficacious vaccines.

Hidayaturrahman, a poultry farmer in Blitar, East Java, told
The Jakarta Post he has been using imported Chinese vaccines
since August last year.

"The (imported) vaccines saved my chickens. For me, it is just
common sense. When there is an outbreak of the virus, we have to
undertake the vaccinations," he said.

In Blitar, out of 14 million layer chickens, five million had
died because of avian influenza from September 2003 through to
the end of January this year, said Hidayaturrahman.

In comparison, the government has only admitted to 5.36
million chickens killed by AI across the country until the end of
January.

Hidayaturrahman said the Chinese vaccine was sold for Rp 1,000
(11 cents) per dose in the first days of the outbreak, but the
price had dropped to Rp 320 per dose.

PT Bio Farm, the sole authorized vaccine importer, sells its
vaccine for Rp 230 plus VAT per dose.

According to Hidayaturrahman, vaccines locally produced by PT
Medion, PT Pusvetama and PT Vaksindo are available on the market
at Rp 225, Rp 165 and Rp 154 from per dose respectively.