The poultry industry in Brazil, the world’s largest poultry exporter, is on high alert as bird flu spreads steadily through South America.
Avian influenza, or bird flu, swept across the world in 2022 – Asia, Europe and North America all suffered huge outbreaks as migratory birds carried the disease from country to country. Millions of chickens have been culled in attempts to curb the spread.
Until late 2022, South America had been unaffected, despite the disease affecting poultry flocks in Canada and most states in the United States. Then, as we reported in Volume 116, bird flu entered South America through Columbia in the north and began spreading southwards down the country’s west coast.
Now, Poultry World reports, the disease has reached Argentina and Uruguay. The only countries in South America unaffected are Brazil and two of its northern neighbours, Guyana and Suriname.
Brazil is one of the world’s major poultry producers and widespread bird flu outbreaks could be devastating to the industry there. A survey has estimated that bird flu could cause €2.4 billion in damage to the Brazilian poultry sector.
Given the increasing worldwide demand for chicken, a reduction in global poultry supplies would inevitably push up prices.
