Russian Poultry Demand Down

WASHINGTON - Feb 14/06 - SNS -- Russian demand for poultry products has been hurt by increased news of highly pathogenic, H5N1 avian influenza in birds in Russia and surrounding countries.

Even so, Russia's poultry production is expected to grow by 15% in 2006 as investors continue pouring money into this sector, argues the U.S. agricultural attache for the country.

Poultry analysts believe that production growth at the current rate can only continue if ancillary industries also become more developed - feed production, processing industries, equipment production, etc. According to industry contacts, the profitability of chicken production is high enough at this time to cover additional costs associated with fighting avian influenza.

In 2005, only 10% of total poultry output was provided by facilities where average bird weight gain was 50 or more grams a day, birds were slaughtered at 35 days of age and the feed conversion factor was 1.6-1.7 kilo per one kilo of weight gain. Farms where average bird weight gain was 45-50 grams a day reached 43.5% of total poultry output while farms where average bird weight gain was 30-40 grams a day provided over 11%.

Subscribers can read the full text of the article by Clicking here