Bird flu hits Egypt's multi-billion-dollar poultry industry

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2006

CAIRO (AFP) — The sudden outbreak of avian influenza in Egypt has dealt a huge blow to the poultry industry, in a country which consumes 800 million birds a year and exports to the entire region.

The destruction of flocks and transport restrictions imposed by the authorities to stem the spread of the disease are costing the industry an estimated 1.7 million dollars a day, according to the state-owned Al-Akhbar daily.

Poultry features heavily in the Egyptian diet and supports a huge industry which employs around two million Egyptians, said Magdy al-Sebaie, general manager of Cairo Poultry, the country's leading processed chicken producer with sales of 161 million dollars in 2004.

The poultry market in the Arab world's most populous country weighs an estimated...