Fox News : declared in China egg producers brace for pain from bird flu crackdown

Shi Qing, an egg wholesaler in Hubei, said sales had been hit hard by the oversupply and concerns about catching bird flu. "Eggs prices are falling sharply. That is piling pressure on producers already grappling with tanking demand from a public spooked by fears over bird flu, deepening what some farmers say is one of the biggest crises to ever hit the egg industry in China, the world's top supplier. With many poultry markets closed in the wake of China's worst-ever bird flu outbreak, local egg producers are being forced to shell out to feed and water chickens long after they would normally have been killed and sold for meat. He is paying to feed 30,000 chickens that are past their prime and losing value, while sinking egg prices have halved his income since Lunar New Year at the end of January.

South Korea to extend subsidy on some egg imports as bird flu hits local output

South Korea had by Feb. 23 spent 645 million won ($570,000) of the 900 million won earmarked for egg import subsidies, the ministry said in the statement. Since egg imports started in January, Asia's fourth-largest economy has brought in nearly 805 tonnes of fresh eggs and almost 837 tonnes of egg products, according to the ministry. Although the spread of the H5N8 virus is abating, three cases were reported at poultry farms last week, the ministry said. The country's agriculture ministry originally planned to cover half the air and sea-borne shipment costs for imported eggs through the end of February. It said that most eggs had been imported by boat following the Lunar New Year holiday in late January.


Warned that about 30 percent of live poultry markets infected with H7N9. China, the world's third-largest producer of broiler chickens and the second-biggest consumer of poultry, has also closed some live poultry markets after people and chickens were infected by the avian flu strains. (Adds latest death toll) BEIJING, Feb 27 (Reuters) - China reported another 8 fatalities from H7N9 bird flu since mid-February, the government said, taking the death toll so far this winter to at least 108 and stirring further concerns about the spread of the deadly virus. China has confirmed five bird flu outbreaks among poultry this winter, which has led to the culling of more than 175,000 birds. China reported as many as 79 deaths from the same virus in January, the government said.



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