Thailand defers all chicken exports

Thailand defers all chicken exports

Agence-France Presse, Bangkok

Thailand has suspended all chicken exports after confirming
the first two human cases of bird flu and detecting the disease
in chickens here, deputy agriculture minister Newin Chidchob said
on Friday.

"After the international community learns we have found the
bird flu virus in Thailand they will stop importing Thai poultry
products, so in response to this Thailand will temporarily
suspend exports of poultry products," he said.

Newin said the government will now negotiate with importing
nations in a bid to persuade them to accept cooked chicken
products.

It will then move to rehabilitate poultry farmers whose
livestock have been slaughtered in a nationwide cull of seven
million chickens, he said.

The European Union, which is Thailand's second biggest
customer for chicken products, had said it was watching the
situation closely and could announce a ban if an outbreak was
confirmed.

Meanwhile, analysts said on Friday that the country's stock
market and tourism industry are at risk of being severely damaged
by the outbreak.

Major agricultural companies involved in Thailand's US$1.2
billion chicken exporting business saw their share prices slump
after the government announced on Thursday there were three
suspected human cases of the disease.

The gloom deepened when Hong Kong and their biggest customer
for chicken products, Japan, ordered import bans and the European
Union threatened similar action if the cases were confirmed.

Brokers said that by mid-session, food giant Charoen
Pokphand's shares had fallen 10 percent to 3.60 baht (9.2 U.S.
cents) while shares in another major exporter GFPT had plummeted
14.3 percent to 18.60 baht.

"The market has been brought down significantly because of
this (bird disease)", said KGI Securities analyst Pat
Pattaphongse. "We are advising our clients avoid these stocks
until we can assess the situation."

Pat said that since the scare began in November, when the
government reported what it insisted was an outbreak of fowl
cholera and bronchitis, and not avian influenza, Charoen
Pokphand's share price had fallen 10 percent while GFPT had
suffered a 37 percent decline.

The bird flu crisis which has also hit Vietnam, Japan, South
Korea and Taiwan is blamed for weakness across the Thai bourse,
which at mid-session on Friday was down nearly two percent, while
the agribusiness sector fell more than six percent.

Analysts said the Thai economy could withstand the crisis, but
the chicken exporting industry said it feared the outbreak could
cripple its international and domestic sales.

Kim Eng Securities analyst Michael Stead said that after weeks
of denials from the Thai government, open and transparent
handling of the crisis was needed to restore market confidence.

"Long-term market prospects still look good, but it depends
how long it takes to clear up this matter," he said.

The analyst said the damage would also spread to other
lucrative sectors of the Thai economy.

Pacific Asia Travel Association director John Koldowski said a
downturn in tourism across the region was inevitable,
particularly because tourists were concerned about the lack of
transparency in dealing with the disease.

"People heard for so long that there were no terrorists in
Thailand and then there were, and now they are being told there
is no problem with this outbreak but they don't believe it," said
Koldowski.