TAIWAN: FARMERS GEAR UP TO EXPORT CHICKENS TO HONG KONG
Like 0 Dislike 0 Published on 21 Jul 2015
English/Nat
Chicken farmers in Taiwan are hoping to take advantage of Hong Kong's ban on imports of chickens from China by exporting their own in time for the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations.
But Hong Kong officials insist imports from Taiwan and other countries hoping to benefit from the ban will be subject to the same restrictions on live poultry as applies to China.
Chicken farmers in Taiwan are gearing themselves up to export these chickens to Hong Kong, if they can get round the ban that blocks imports from the Chinese mainland.
Despite the ban, Taiwan's largest chicken breeder believes the high demand for poultry could force Hong Kong to open its doors to between five- and 20-thousand Taiwanese frozen chickens a day.
Charoen Pokphand or C-P boasts its meticulous way of breeding chicken and has served the domestic market in the past.
Most of the chicken farms in Taiwan are bred in a closed door tent to prevent contact with migrating birds.
They also hire veterinarians and chicken experts to ensure their chickens are of good quality and do not carry the bird flu virus.
SOUNDBITE: (English )
"So before we export a chicken to a Hong Kong we will get a H-5-N-1 certification from government."
SUPER CAPTION: Ru-Chein Yu, President of Charoen Pokphand Group Taiwan.
The Chinese mainland, which has provided 80 per cent of Hong Kong's poultry, halted shipments last week after the so-called "bird flu" spread to humans, killing four people.
The Taiwan government immediately invited a Japanese virus control expert to test the country's poultry market.
Dr. Hiroshi Kida believes Taiwan is currently free of H-5-N-1 Avian Influenza.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"From Taiwan to Hong Kong, I think it's O-K. So they are safe. They can buy and they can eat or even use (the chickens') eggs."
SUPER CAPTION : Dr Hiroshi Kida, Professor and Councilor of Department of Disease Control, Hokkaido University
Taiwan is currently breeding some 120 (m) million chickens - although these are mainly for domestic consumption because their prices are about 15 percent higher than those offered by China.
Although Taiwan presently has no evidence of migrating birds carrying any infectious disease, Dr Hiroshi Kida is warning people all over the world to beware of the next bird influenza wave.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We should be careful about next coming, new viruses. The candidates of new viruses are still circulating all over the world by carrying, by aquatic birds which migrate from the north to the south every year. I'm sure they are having many different kinds of sub types of influenza virus in their faeces."
SUPER CAPTION : Dr Hiroshi Kida, Professor and Councilor of Department of Disease Control, Hokkaido University,(English & Japanese Language)
But Hong Kong officials have said the ban on live poultry applied to Taiwan and other countries hoping to capitalise on the ban on mainland birds.
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