Fresh bird flu outbreak drives down poultry prices

The town where the virus was found is located in one of the centers of the domestic poultry industry. Most of the companies located in this region operate in this sector. "Despite this fact the farms are rarely controlled by veterinarians and none of them insure the production," said Rajmund Paczkowski, the president of National Poultry Council. The demand for poultry has fallen in the largest domestic retail chains by several percent just during the past few days. The prices have already fallen by 10-15%. During the two weeks since the first H5N1 virus was detected the losses to the farms have reached zł.20 million, but they can expect compensation from the government amounting to around zł.10 million.