Colombia will be able to export chicken to Japan again: exports suspended due to avian influenza

Colombian chicken meat producers are delighted. The good news that Japan will once again buy chicken meat from Colombia comes after overcoming the challenges of outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza that affected Colombia in October 2022.

To achieve this decision, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) carried out control and surveillance measures in the affected areas for months, which made it possible to control the outbreaks of the disease.

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“Eradicating the outbreaks of influenza in Colombia has been an articulated work between the ICA and regional entities, but, above all, of poultry producers, who notified the health authority and established strong biosecurity measures to prevent and control the spread of the virus”, said the Colombian entity.

In October last year, the Directorate of Food Safety and Consumer Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan had suspended purchases of chicken meat from Colombia due to the presence of 49 outbreaks of avian influenza in our country.

With the decision of the Japanese sanitary authorities, it will be possible to resume sales of poultry products to that Asian country, a field in which Colombia has much to do.

Before the suspension defined by the Japanese authorities, exports of the poultry sector had been concentrated in glands and substances of animal origin used for the preparation of pharmaceutical products, but these had been progressively decreasing. Figures show that these went from 1.34 million dollars in 2013 to less than 63 thousand dollars in 2022.

The poultry sector has been preparing

Since the negotiations of the trade agreement with Japan began in 2011, the poultry sector has improved its competitiveness. The most recent example is the agro-industrial company Cargill, which inaugurated in November 2021 the most modern hatchery in Colombia and the world.

With an investment of $34 billion pesos, the hatchery located in Mahates, near Cartagena, was built to produce approximately 2.8 million chicks per month.

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The company plans to export chicken meat to countries such as the United States, Japan and Europe in the next five years, as the plant has outstanding technical features, including packaging and grading equipment for fertile eggs, an automatic chick counting system and vaccination equipment.

Although the sector has become more technologically advanced to avoid new outbreaks of avian influenza, the imposition of sanitary measures has prevented the poultry industry from accessing the Asian market, so the ICA’s announcement improves the outlook, which had been stagnant.

With the news that Colombia will be able to sell poultry products to Japan again, our country recovers an important business opportunity.

What is avian influenza?

Avian influenza is a disease of viral origin. According to the ICA, it is highly contagious and normally occurs in epidemic and transboundary form.

Avian influenza A viruses are classified into two categories: on the one hand, viruses of the low pathogenic incidence form of avian influenza type A and, on the other hand, viruses of the highly pathogenic form of avian influenza type A (HPAI). According to the Colombian Agricultural Institute (IVA), HPAI causes up to 100% of mortality in poultry.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that avian influenza has been detected in more than 100 species of wild birds worldwide. In fact, this virus is naturally present in waterfowl, which can infect domestic birds during migratory cycles.

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