Argentina regained the british poultry meat market

Argentina obtained the reopening by the United Kingdom of the poultry meat and poultry products market, which had been suspended in 2023 due to the outbreaks of avian influenza.

Argentina obtained the reopening by the United Kingdom of the poultry meat and poultry products market, which had been suspended in 2023 due to the outbreaks of avian influenza. A formal note from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs informed Senasa that it recognizes Argentina’s self-declaration as a country free of highly pathogenic avian influenza, and that it has lifted the restrictions for importing poultry meat from our territory.

The british decision is also based on the information provided by the national agency, which states that there is no risk linked to the entry of consignments of fresh meat and poultry meat products from Argentina.

“In this way, the joint work carried out by Senasa with the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Nation and the Chancellery continues to bear fruit in the recovery of export markets for poultry products”, said an official statement.

Why is this market reopening so important?

• The recognition of the United Kingdom is very important for Argentina, because it represents a fundamental precedent to manage the reopening of the markets of China and Chile, which are the largest customers of the argentine poultry exporting sector.
• In 2023, until the market was closed in April due to the HPAI outbreak, Senasa certified the export of 272 tons of poultry products to Great Britain.
• The loss of key markets, due to the suspensions caused by the avian influenza outbreaks, generated a significant drop in Argentine poultry meat exports, which in 2023 were 160,585 tons product weight, versus 227,247 tons in 2022.
• The decrease in export volume was also reflected in foreign currency, since due to the sanitary crisis, they had to place merchandise in destinations of lower value and accepting even lower prices than the usual ones for Argentine white meat.

In view of the culmination of the sanitary actions in the last outbreak of HPAI in poultry (commercial circuit), SENASA submitted to OMSA a detailed document with all the sanitary actions carried out since the beginning of the outbreak, which supports and sustains Argentina’s current status as a country free of the disease.

Conclusions

• It is worth mentioning that the sanitary emergency is still in force, through epidemiological surveillance and prevention tasks throughout Argentina.
• It is important to remember that Avian Influenza is a notifiable disease in Argentina according to SENASA Resolution 153/2021.
• Any person can notify the Agency if he/she identifies mortality, nervous, digestive and/or respiratory signs in wild birds or poultry, through SENASA channels.