South Asian Business news and information

From December 2007, Bhutan government imposed a ban on Indian chicken because of bird flu. Since then, the price of chicken and egg went up in Bhutan. For higher price, many people have stopped eating chicken and egg. Now, Bhutanese government is planning to resume import of ‘Day-Old-Chicks’ (DOC) from Pune and Delhi.

Kuensel Online reports:

Livestock oficials said that, since the ban of poultry and poultry products from India due to an outbreak of bird flu (avian influenza) in West Bengal, it had been tough to meet the demand of farmers and consumers. The recent ban was imposed in December last year.

The demand, according to the chief veterinary officer, Dr Karma Tenzing, was always there. “The import from India helped but, since we have imposed a blanket ban on India, we were unable to meet the demand.”

Bhutan is situated beside India and it imports many products from the country. It saves a lot of money. For importing chicken and egg, Bhutan tried both New Zealand and Nepal but none of the countries proved to be a very viable option. India is the best and last option now. Last month, livestock officials brought 2520 eggs for production and service from New Zealand of which 585 survived. Bhutan even brought DOCs from New Zealand. In both cases, the expense was high. The price of DOCs is very high in Nepal as well and it is situated near Kolkata, which suffered from bird flu outbreak. Hence, Bhutan is now reconsidering to import chicken from Pune and Delhi.

Related article:
Kuensel Online