Kuwait bans Indian poultry products

The Dollar Business Bureau

Following the outbreak of bird flu in Tripura on the 4th of January, Kuwait had imposed a ban on poultry product imports from India. In Oct the Gulf nations’ PAAFR department (Public Authority of Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources) had agreed to lift the ban on importing of live poultry, one-year old chicks of the egg laying hens and flesh hens from India. This decision by the Middle East could have a serious impact on India’s poultry exports as India mainly exports poultry to Middle East countries.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply said that it is important to share this information so that the same can be conveyed to the importing countries to be known that establishment based on compartmentalization is possible. She also added that the same can be applied to the products that would be imported into India.

In December 2015, India’s poultry product exports to Kuwait was 0.33 crores. However, the import of the same during January 2016 was Rs 0.65 crores and in February 2016 it was Rs.0.17 crores.

Over the years India has been on the receiving end of rejection from countries all over the world including the developed countries on the import of poultry products, rice and many other commodities.

According to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, India has exported 5,56, 698.80 tonnes of poultry products during 2014-15 compared to 437,673.53 tonnes in 2013-14.

The main exports destination countries of the poultry products from India included Oman, Japan, Germany, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

However, another issue that is affecting the export of poultry products is its short shelf life. Due to this reason exports are largely confined to the nearby countries with the focus resting mainly on the Middle East.