Voluntary Report - public distribution

**Date:** 2/24/2006

**GAIN Report Number:** GR6001

GR6001

**Greece**

**Poultry and Products**

**Update on Avian Influenza**

**2006**

**Approved by:**

![](media/image1.wmf)Robin Gray

U.S. Embassy Rome

**Prepared by:**

Stamatis Sekliziotis

**Report Highlights:**

With six recent cases of H5N1 and more expected, Greek authorities are
taking every precaution to confront Avian Influenza. Despite the
government's public information effort and press cooperation, public
reaction has affected trade. GoG officials are calling for EU
compensation.

Includes PSD Changes: No

Includes Trade Matrix: No

Unscheduled Report

Rome \[IT1\]

\[GR\]

**Incidents in Greece**

There have been six confirmed cases of H5N1 in migratory birds in
Greece. Five cases from the northeastern region and one from the island
of Skyros, about 75 miles north east of Athens. Reports of dead or dying
birds continue to come in from almost every region in Greece, including
the Aegean and Ionian islands. At the same time, the national reference
laboratory has announced that it has reached its maximum testing
capacity and is now storing dead birds as they developed a backlog of
testing specimens. In outlying areas of northern Greece and in
Thessaloniki itself, the Ministry of Health has noted a significant
increase in people with flu like symptoms that have requested testing
for H5N1. All testing for H5N1 in humans in Greece have proven negative
thus far.

# Government Response

The Greek Ministries of Agriculture, Interior and Rural Development have
all reacted to the situation in kind, working with the EU, state, and
local authorities to ensure that the appropriate action has been and
will be taken in order to effectively confront the growing threat of
Avian Influenza in Greece. The overall focus of the GoG at this time is
to continue to aggressively pursue early detection and isolation of H5N1
carrier birds and to prevent the virus from passing to domestic bird
populations. Strict measures have been enforced to prevent open and
un-contained exposure of domestic fowl and the GoG can levy fines of up
to 3,000 euros for a single violation. Specific initiatives such as mass
feeding along shorelines and wetland areas to keep migratory flocks from
areas with higher population density, and engaging local school systems
in a grassroots education and warning campaign, are being utilized in
the effected regions of northern Greece. Despite the comprehensive
response of the GoG, specific instances of non-compliance exist. In
western Macedonia, near the migratory bird dense area of the Prespes
wetlands, rural villages have continued to keep their poultry out and in
the open. However, the fines levied against individuals who violate the
open-air domestic poultry ban may prove to be an ineffective deterrent,
as many rural Greeks cannot afford to pay fines that are levied against
them.

The Ministry of Agriculture\'s strategy to utilize hunters, farmers,
fisherman and citizens to be on the lookout for dead or dying migratory
appears to have been effective in the early detection of Avian Influenza
in northern Greece. A protective radius will be in place around the
sites where the first three birds were found for 21 days; this area will
be essentially isolated from free movement and monitored. A larger
protective zone will be around the sites for an additional 9 days and
will be closely monitored. All domestic birds from within the protected
area will be banned from export outside the area and the Ministry of
Agriculture will continue to enforce its ban on open-air poultry markets
and farms. At this time, no mass culling of domestic birds has been
ordered.

# Public Reaction

The efforts of the GoG to inform the public on Avian Influenza have been
received with mixed reaction among the public, with Greeks in the rural
areas reacting more viscerally than those in the major urban centers.
The media has been remarkably cooperative in helping the government to
inform the public on sanitation and personal protection measures and
Minister of Health Nikitas Kaklamanis recently thanked the media for its
(uncharacteristically) calm and responsible tone.

The upcoming spring season is likely to bring a significant increase in
migratory bird traffic in Southeastern Europe as a whole. The recent
confirmation of H5N1 in Southern Italy is indicative of this reality.
The number of H5N1 cases in migratory birds is expected to increase in
the coming weeks and we will continue to monitor the efforts of the GoG
to isolate the domestic poultry industry from all possible contact with
migratory birds.

# The Greek Poultry Industry and Trade Impact

Greece produces approximately 180,000 MT of poultry meat per annum,
meeting about 80% of the domestic demand before Avian Influenza.
According to the GoG Ministry of Agriculture reports, the value of Greek
live poultry and meat production is estimated between 550 to 600 million
Euros in 2005. The remaining 20% of Greece's poultry meat needs are met
through imports, primarily from the EU and Brazil, with total imports of
up to 35,000 MT/annum. Over a million parent-stock chicks are imported
each year for meat production and another 200,000 chicks are imported
for egg production. These imports come primarily from other EU member
states and the U.S. Exports are limited to only 6,000 -- 7,000 MT/annum,
mostly to Albania.

Domestic consumption in October, after the outbreaks of avian flu in
Turkey and Romania, dropped by almost 55 percent. Reports have continued
to note large declines in sales of poultry in Greece, possibly as high
as 70%. Poultry feedlots are unable to keep chickens for more than 16
weeks in feeding. After slaughter they must channel to deep-freeze.
Reportedly there are now approximately 30,000 -- 40,000 MT in
deep-freeze facilities. A second generation of impacts has been reported
in the consumption and sales by domestic feed and grain, following
decisions by feedlots to reduce chick production and feeding. To date,
the total economic damage officially reported by both the GoG and the
domestic poultry industry is estimated at over 50 million Euros.

GoG officials have joined with officials from Italy, France and Spain in
calling on the EU to relax rules to allow governments to support farmers
for loss of trade if poultry prices plummet. The EU is resisting this,
but it allows for national governments to put into place their own
domestic compensation plans as long as those plans meet EU state aid
rules. The EU does have compensation plans to replace birds that are
culled if the disease moves to Europe's commercial poultry population.