Five countries banning UK poultry

The bans apply to all poultry goods, not just turkeys

South Korea and Hong Kong have become the latest countries to ban imports of UK poultry following the outbreak of bird flu on a Suffolk turkey farm.

With the cull of the farm's 159,000 birds now completed, a total of five nations have now officially suspended UK poultry imports.

The other three countries are Russia, Japan and South Africa.

Britain is Europe's second-largest poultry producer after France, with annual poultry exports totalling £300m.

Trade body the British Poultry Council says exports account for about 10% of the industry's annual earnings.

Live ducks

While four of the five countries have blocked all UK poultry imports, Russia is still allowing the importation of cooked meats.

Overall poultry exports to Russia are worth about £11m a year to the UK.

By comparison, South Korea imported about $3m (£1.5m) of UK poultry products last year, mostly in the form of live ducks for breeding.

South Korea's agriculture ministry said it would now either cull or return 3,645 UK ducks currently being held in quarantine.

Hong Kong, which imported 11,400 tonnes of UK poultry and poultry products in the first 10 months of last year, said its ban had been introduced with immediate effect.

Japan is banning all UK poultry imports even though it currently only buys live British chicks for breeding, a trade that is worth about £200,000 a year.

EU rules

Although the five bans will have a financial impact on the UK poultry sector, they are minor markets.

The great majority of UK poultry exports - between 75% and 80% - go to fellow European Union (EU) member states.

Under EU rules, countries have only banned the import of any poultry goods from within the restriction zone surrounding the infected Suffolk farm.

This ban also applies to UK firms.