He Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP) remains concerned about the progress of the bird flu in Uruguay, due to the economic impact that an outbreak could have on a poultry sector already hit by prices influenced by Brazilian imports, in particular; and in the agro-export complex suffocated by the drought extreme that the country is experiencing, in general.
The portfolio run by fernando mattos knows and warns about what would be the most critical moment: the entry of the Avian Influenza H5N1 to the commercial circuit and the consequent slaughter of thousands of chickens and hens, affecting Uruguayan poultry production.
With the recent detection of 10 cases in hens from Montevideo, on a private farm The monarch, the alarms went off with greater intensity due to the spread of the virus and its entry into farms. Although this case was particular and was registered quickly after the complaint for mortality filed by the producer, it was the third in a month, with the first cases in rock and Maldonado, and the deaths of 70 chickens and other backyard birds from bird flu in San Gregorio del Polanco, in Tacuarembó.
Also, last week there was a false alarm after 3,000 chickens died on a farm in Chazimo, Florida.
The outlook is far from bleak, but it is It is very worrying, and that is how they understand it from the MGAP. In a local poultry sector that has been hit hard by the difficult competition against Brazilian chicken importsand in a context of drought extreme that does not help, precisely, the entry of Avian Influenza in hatcheries “would be a very strong impact,” according to Mattos confessed.
Whereas the protocol of stamping out indicates that “if there is a sick bird in a shed of thousands, the thousands that are in contact must be eliminated”, the losses for producers and for Uruguay would be immense if the virus continues to advance.
The collapse of negotiations with China
The moment in which the first cases of avian flu appeared in Uruguay, in Black-necked swan specimens, could not have been the least indicated: just a day before, Mattos had highlighted the opening of the poultry market as a priority for the poultry sector. China as a destination for the shipment of poultry meat placements.
However, the appearance of Avian Influenza cut short this possibility in the short term, due to the strong controls and demands imposed by the Asian country for products that enter its territory.
This was not only bad news for producers, who require tools that boost trade in the face of the limitations of the domestic market; but also for the country, which lost a new way of negotiating with China, in a scenario in which the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) —one of the pillars on which the government of Luis Lacalle Pou intends to build its electoral platform for 2024—is seriously delayed.
Source: Ambito
