China's poultry sector has recorded losses of more than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) since reports emerged of a new strain of bird flu two weeks ago, Reuters reported citing an official at the country's National Poultry Industry Association.
Authorities have slaughtered thousands of birds and closed live poultry markets in Shanghai and Beijing in an attempt to reduce the rate of human infection and allay growing fears about the H7N9 virus.
However new cases are being reported daily. In total 14 people have now died from the bird flu virus and 63 have been infected, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
Most of the cases to date have been in eastern China, where poultry consumption is down by more than half, according to Liu Yonghao, president the New Hope Group, the country's largest producer of animal feed.
Prices have dropped on weaker demand. High-quality chicken is selling for 4 yuan per kg, down from 16 yuan per kg, Liang Zhong, the poultry association official, told the China Daily newspaper.
However National Bureau of Statistics data released on Monday showed that average whole chicken prices nationwide were down only 1.5 percent to 18.8 yuan per kilogram in the first 10 days of April, compared with the preceding 10-day period.
China is the world's second largest poultry market after the United States, and poultry is the country's fastest growing meat sector. But a spate of food safety scandals in recent months has hurt consumer confidence in the industry.
