JEDDAH, 15 March 2004 — Port authorities in Jeddah have refused entry to a container ship carrying frozen Chinese chicken. With 183 containers of frozen chicken weighing 3,400 tons, the ship was ordered to destroy the cargo or to return it to the point of origin.
The ship returned to China where bird flu is still spreading.
The current epidemic has affected 10 Asian countries, killing at least eight people in Thailand and Vietnam. Exports of poultry and related products have been halted from Shanghai and the Chinese provinces of Anhui and Guangdong as suspected cases there are being investigated. Guangdong is on high alert for attempts to smuggle poultry to the lucrative nearby markets of Hong Kong and Macau.
Saudi Arabia imports between 25,000 and 35,000 tons of chicken from China annually. The balance of imports comes from Brazil, Ireland, France and the United States. The annual Saudi chicken market is worth SR500 million a year.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, total poultry meat production is expected to reach 530,000 tons by the end of 2004, up about four percent compared to the 2002 level of 510,000 tons.
Various factors such as heavy dependence on imported feed, medicine and high energy costs due to the requirement for year-round temperature control are compensated for with a substantial subsidy program from the Saudi government.
Local production costs range from $1,090 to $1,380 per ton.
Despite the subsidy, producers allege to have difficulty competing with imports due to locally produced frozen chickens being more expensive than imported ones by about 20 percent per kilogram.
Even if locally produced chicken could match the prices of imported chickens, many institutional customers would still buy imported chickens — particularly Brazilian ones — since locally produced frozen broilers have a high fat and moisture content.
