India Contests US Charge of Denying Poultry Market Access

INDIA - India disagrees with the US charge of denying market access to American poultry with the country's officials saying that the imposition of high import duty on low priced chicken drum sticks is aimed at preventing dumping of such items.

5 March 2012

2 minute read

Asia

The American poultry industry dumps low priced chicken drum sticks (25 Cent a kg which comes to Rs 18/kg) in India, it said.

To safeguard the interest of the farmers, the government has imposed an import duty of 104 per cent on poultry items from America, sources in the Agriculture Ministry told PTI.

Besides, the chicken drum sticks contain high fat which is not good for health, they said.

According to The Hindu Business Line, while chicken drum sticks (popularly known as leg piece) are in great demand here, they are considered a waste product by Americans who crave for chest pieces.

Reportedly, the US is considering to drag India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the issue of market access for its poultry products.

"Anybody can go to the WTO, but there is no justification in doing so," a senior official of the ministry said.

The US has said that it has already taken similar action against China.

Former Treasurer of Poultry Federation of India Mr Ricky Thaper also supported high import duty on poultry to protect the domestic industry which mostly involves small farmers.

Maturing from a backyard activity to a large-scale integrated business, India’s domestic poultry market size is estimated at more than Rs 47,000 billion.