Source: MEATINGPLACE, 9/8/16

A ban on U.S. breeders launched in 2015 in response to the avian influenza outbreak here has the potential to put the status of the world’s second-largest poultry market in jeopardy, according to a report from Reuters.

Breeder chicken supplies are at their lowest levels in a decade because China has not replenished stocks of breeder chickens from U.S. sources and those in France, according to the report. The 720,000 breeder chicks imported last year were about half of the levels in 2013, a chicken supplier to the KFC unit of Yum Brands in China told Reuters. Just 110,000 units have entered the market in the first half of 2016, which is expected to affect prices and availability of chicken meat used by fast-food chains and the overall Chinese market next year.

U.S. producers supply about half of the world’s breeder chicks and China is expected to import nearly 500,000 tons of poultry meat next year from such suppliers as Argentina, Brazil and Chile, a 33-percent increase from 2016 levels.

China’s ban on U.S. poultry and egg products in addition to breeding stock has yet to be lifted despite the World Health Organization clearing the U.S. in terms of the presence of bird flu in April 2016.

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