Poultry industry protests over chicken legs import from US

Says US uses pig fat as protein feed, GM corn & soya as bird feed, which are not permitted in India

The Rs 50,000 crore Indian poultry industry has strongly opposed the government's move to allow import of chicken legs from the United States after India lost its case in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) last year.

In a letter recently written to the Union Ministry of Agriculture, the Poultry Federation of India, the representative body of organised and unorganised sector poultry farmers, has warned the government that the use of pig fat as a feed by US farmers could create religious disharmony in India.

"We have written a letter to the government highlighting use of pig fat by chicken farmers in the United States. Import of chicken legs, therefore, might create religious disharmony in India. The government should not allow its import from the United States," said Ramesh Khatri, President of the Poultry Federation of India.

Most poultry farmers overseas use some animal fat as a protein feed in chicken breeding and the US is no exception. Some Indian farmers, largely from the unorganised sector, also use some artificial protein feed.

The Indian poultry industry faced a huge threat of cheaper chicken leg imports from the United States after India lost its case in the World Trade Organisation in July last year.  The WTO had held India's ban on import of poultry meat and eggs from the US as "inconsistent" with international norms, and called upon the country to come out with consolidated guidelines within 18 months, of which hardly a few months are left.

The WTO ruling to allow US poultry imports was effectively notified in July 2016 though no imports from US have yet started. Still, considering the strong probability of dumping of chicken drumsticks by US exporters, domestic poultry players are lobbying with the government to ensure adequate protective measures are taken.

"US consumers have preference for white meat and hence dark meat like chicken legs and thighs are sold at deep discounts and are mostly exported. Unabated imports from the US can directly affect the processing industry though the impact is expected to be limited in the near to medium term, given the domestic preference for fresh chicken and the limited cold chain infrastructure available," said Anjan Deb Ghosh, an analyst with Icra Rating in a report.

Meanwhile, Indian poultry farmers are awaiting the government's guidelines on import of chicken legs from the US. They have urged the government to frame stringent guidelines with high quality standards, including a ban on birds slaughtered more than three months ago, full declaration about use of high protein feed and "no use of genetically modified (GM) corn and soya as bird feeds, among others; to enable them to dump their wastes into India."

"The landed cost of an entire chick into India from the US would work out to Rs 200 a kg as against the prevailing market price of Rs 125 a kg in local markets. Hence, entire chick import from the United States would prove costly. Apart from that, India does not allow the use of GM corn and soya as bird feeds which the US does. Hence, the cost of poultry production in the United States is much lower than that in India. If GM feeds are not allowed for Indian consumers, why to create unnecessary competition in the final products," said Balram Yadav, Managing Director, Godrej Agrovet, one of India's largest producers of poultry meat and feed.

Imported chicken legs would come in frozen form. In such cases, identifying killing of birds would be herculean task. Hence, permitting import of chicken legs would kill the Rs 12000 crore local industry, feared Khatri.