US challenges India over poultry ban at WTO

The US has taken India to the WTO to challenge its ban on American poultry imports, which was introduced in 2007 to prevent the spread of avian flu.

The US trade representative Ron Kirk said India’s ban on poultry meat and chicken eggs was a way of disguising trade restrictions by invoking unjustified animal health concerns.

"The United States is the world’s leader in agricultural safety and we are confident that the World Trade Organization will confirm that India’s ban is unjustified," Kirk added.

According to Kirk, India has provided no scientific proof that is in line with international standards on avian-influenza control for imposing the trade restriction.

The move comes a few days after the US created a new taskforce, the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center, to combat unfair practices of trading partners.

The demand for poultry products has been growing in India, where the poultry market is growing at an annual rate of 8%-10%. The US, which is the world’s biggest poultry meat producer and the second largest exporter after Brazil, is eager to tap this market.

According to a US Agriculture Department report, India’s broiler meat consumption has grown from 2.23 million tonnes in 2007 to an estimated 2.75 million tonnes in 2011. The country expects to produce about 2.70 million tonnes of meat this year.

If the ban is lifted, the US expects its poultry exports to go up to $300m but it will likely take one to two years to come to a result in the case.

This is the fifth time that the US has taken India to the WTO, and the first under the Obama administration.

Over the last decade, the US has fought with some of its largest trading partners over poultry exports, most recently also with China in 2011.

Image: The US is keen to tap the Indian poultry market, which is growing at an annual rate of 8%-10%. Photo: ITamar K.