Bird flu scare crashes chicken prices by 60%

Traders and sellers spoke of a conspiracy and claimed that it was done by the multinational companies to create a scare to sell their flu vaccines. ‘‘They have invested a lot of money into their medicines and sell it for over Rs 1,000. This is a way of selling their product,’’ a shopkeeper said.

Market players also feel that the scare is aimed at discrediting the Indian poultry industry which is making its mark in the export market. ‘‘It is a highly competitive market and these rumours are aimed at hurting the Rs 32,000-crore Indian market. The farmers will suffer the most,’’ Sripad R. Maheshkar, director of United Farming Corporation, a chicken feed company said. He added that it would take at least two months for the rates to get back to normal.

Some analysts say that foreign investment in Indian stocks could be hit in the short term. ‘‘Investors are looking at India carefully and avian flu is a risk,’’ said Abheek Barua, chief economist ABN AMRO Bank.

Meanwhile,industry body National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC) said, independent tests conducted by them at two labs had confirmed that the birds at Navapur in Nandurbar district were affected by Ranikhet disease.

‘‘The NECC strongly refutes the reports of bird flu and would like to assure the farmers and the public that there is no bird flu in India and there is no reason for any panic,’’ NECC chairperson Anuradha Desai said.

‘‘The farmers in Nandurbar were supposed to sell off their bird stock after 72 weeks, but the birds were kept for 90 weeks. This threatened their immunity levels and the older flock has been affected,’’ Desai told The Indian Express.