UAE will witness a shortage of eggs as a consequence of the government’s ban on the import of poultry products from India. Moreover, it is likely that the retail prices of eggs in the Emirates will soar by 10 to 30 percent in the coming weeks. Indian eggs make about 50 to 60 percent of the total sale of eggs in UAE. Hotels, bakeries and cafeterias in the Emirates purchase about 70 percent of eggs imported from India. However, when it comes to chicken, the ban will not affect the costs as the retail share of Indian chicken is negligible in UAE markets.
UAE has implemented a temporary ban on the import of all kinds of birds and poultry products from India after cases of bird flu were reported from the country. An H5N1 outbreak has been confirmed in poultry farms from the North-eastern state of Manipur in India. Inspite of an assurance from the Indian poultry industry that an outbreak in that remote a region would not have any effect on domestic sale and export, the UAE government has gone ahead with the ban. The step has been taken as a precautionary measure against a spread of the deadly epidemic to birds and humans in the county.
In the last two years, this is the third time that the UAE government has imposed a ban on the import of Indian birds and poultry products as a safety measure against bird flu. A ban was enforced in February 2006 which was lifted in January this year. Subsequently, it was imposed again from March to June.
