In Iran, the coronavirus pandemic has led to such severe shortages of feed that poultry breeders are unable to sell day-old chicks.
In other countries — China, the U.S., and the European Union — the poultry industries are experiencing the adverse effects of the disease in contrasting ways.
Already, poultry breeders in Iran have disposed of millions of newly hatched chicks, and many more chickens look likely to experience the same fate soon.
Tehran’s poultry farmers’ association put the losses so far at 15 million birds, reports Radio Farda.
Since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic reached the country, poultry farmers have reduced their purchases of day-old broiler chicks, according to the association’s chairman. As sales of poultry meat dropped, so too did the prices of chicken meat and then the young chicks, reports the poultry breeders’ organization. Culling the birds was undertaken to “rebalance the market,” it reported.
Iran’s poultry and livestock industries generally rely heavily on imported feed ingredients. Since the pandemic hit the country, the government has diverted currency away from imported feed ingredients, according to the organization.
Following the circulation on social media of a video on the disposal of the chicks, Radio Farda reported that President Hassan Rouhani had called for those responsible for the culling to be prosecuted.
Growth in Iran’s poultry meat sector
In Iran, chicken meat production has experienced steady expansion over recent years, according to FAOstat, the statistical arm of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. Production reached 2.187 million metric tons (mmt) in 2018 — the most recent year for which figures have been published. Over the previous five years, there had been a general upward growth from 1.967 mmt in 2013.
Avian influenza has been reported periodically in Iran. With the most recent confirmed outbreak one year ago, the Iran Veterinary Organization declared the country free of the disease in July last year.
Differing impacts of COVID-19 on the global poultry sector
COVID-19 is not only hitting the poultry industry in Iran. Effects of the disease — both direct and indirect — are being felt across the world.
Back in early February of this year, poultry farmers in Hubei province in China were described as “very distressed.” With supplies of soybean meal already tight, the transport restrictions brought deliveries of vital feed to farms to an abrupt halt, reported CNBC. To ease the situation, China’s Animal Agriculture Association called on the nation’s feed manufacturers to send 18,000 metric tons (mt) of corn, and 12,000 mt of soybean meal to the province.
Consumers in the U.S. may be facing the prospect of meat shortages. Bloomberg recently reported that the COVID-19 situation is pushing food supply chains “to the limit.”
Rather than disrupting feed supplies, however, it is the impact of virus on the workforce at processing plants that is the key issue. In recent days, Tyson Foods has warned that “millions of pounds of meat” are at risk of disappearing from the supply chain due to the growing number of facilities that have had to halt operations.
So far, the coronavirus pandemic has had less impact on the food supply in the European Union (EU) than in other regions. Nevertheless, the European Commission (EC) highlighted some of the challenges in its latest report on the short-term outlook for agriculture in the EU in 2020. These include disruption of the logistics and “just-in-time” supply chains. However, EU imports of feed ingredients and additives are not expected to be impacted significantly.
For the meat market, EC forecasts that overall production could be reduced as the result of the switch from foodservice — now largely closed — to home consumption. The impacts are likely to hit the beef and sheep markets more than poultry or pork, with restrictions on the transportation of animals becoming a possible issue.
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