(LEAD) Consumer price of poultry goods on rise amid bird flu outbreak

(ATTN: ADDS details on new suspected case in para 8)
By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's agricultural ministry said Friday the local consumer price of poultry products continued to rise sharply as the country continued to destroy all birds near farms infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Authorities have so far culled 25.4 million poultry since the first bird flu case at a farm was reported in late November, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The country slaughters all poultry within a 3-kilometer radius of infected farms.

The average consumer price of eggs rose 43.3 percent on-year over the past week. The producer price even shot up 91.4 percent over the period.

The price of chicken and duck meat also shot up 15.9 percent and 36.1 percent, respectively.

South Korea plans to inject 50,000 tons of tariff-free imported egg products through June to help stabilize the price.

Meanwhile, no additional confirmed cases of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza were reported Friday, with the total caseload standing at 85.

Authorities said they are currently investigating a suspected infection from a duck farm that is raising 8,000 ducks in Yeongam, 384 kilometers south of Seoul.

Of the confirmed cases from farms, Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul accounted for 29, followed by the provinces of North and South Jeolla with 15 infections, respectively. South Chungcheong Province accounted for nine.

Cases from wild birds continued to pile up as well, reaching 142.

South Korea identified a whopping 340 cases of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza traced to poultry farms during the previous wave, which ran from October 2016 to January 2017.

colin@yna.co.kr
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