KARACHI, March 30: Pakistan's poultry industry has suffered a loss of Rs5.4 billion due to avian influenza that spread in November-December 2003 in and around Karachi's poultry farms.

This was revealed by the State Bank of Pakistan in its second quarterly report for 2003-04 on the basis of claim by the Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA).

This loss when adjusted in the value-addition shows a decline of 1.3 per cent in the growth of livestock sub-sector. This had dampened the chances of achieving the target growth of the livestock sub-sector, unless other contributors to the livestock sub-sector (90 per cent) exceed the targeted growth.

The sale price of almost all poultry products in the wholesale market during January-February 2004 remained far less than the cost of production for many poultry farmers. This has led to concerns of a shortage of poultry products in future, raising the prospects of a sharp spike in poultry product prices when the concerns over the bird flu subside, the SBP report said.

Avian influenza has badly affected the poultry industry in several Asian countries, including South Korean, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and China, the report added.

Nonetheless, even reports on the health risks faced by other countries have severely hit Pakistan's poultry industry. The virus, the report said, could not affect Punjab (accounting for 73 per cent of total poultry business) and the Frontier province, but even these were impacted by the countrywide fall in demand for chicken products.

At one stage, the retail prices reached a ten-year low. In Pakistan there are around 300 million chicken birds and more than 20,000 farms with Rs60-70 billion investment in the poultry sector, the report said.