Poultry producers in Papua New Guinea have welcomed a ban on raw poultry imports from Australia, saying it will strengthen PNG’s biosecurity regime.

Agriculture Minister, Tommy Tomscoll. Credit: PNG Loop

PNG’ s Agriculture and Livestock Minister Tommy Tomscoll has imposed the indefinite ban, citing ongoing concerns about potential health threats.

‘Having considered the danger of campylobacteriosis, and in the light of the ongoing case of Newcastle Disease present also in poultry products from Australia … all uncooked poultry products from Australia are hereby banned immediately,’ he said in a statement.

As minister responsible for National Agriculture and Quarantine Authority, Tomscoll said he had a duty to protect citizens and residents from imported agricultural and livestock products which posed potential health threats.

This is not the first time PNG has imposed a ban on raw poultry imports from Australia. In November 2012, a temporary ban was put in place, following an outbreak of the H7 bird flu on one farm in New South Wales.

Positive for local industry

The President of the PNG Poultry Industry Association, Stanley Leahy, told Business Advantage PNG the impact of the ban ‘would be quite positive for us’.

Between 40,000 and 60,000 small hold farmers are members of the PIA, and in 2012, PNG’s poultry industry was worth approximately K750 million.

‘We’ve had a couple of tough years and the ban will give us some stability in the market and more confidence in our biosecurity measures.’

He said filling the vacuum left by the ban would not be a problem.

‘For the last couple of years, we have all operated below capacity.

‘With this being a slower year, we are all sitting on a lot of stock at the moment.’

One company has cut production by 20% already this year so they will be able fill the void, he said.

PNG chickens. Credit: Tablebirds

Reviews

Leahy said two independent reviews on the importation of poultry products are due to report by the end of the year. One will look at bio-security measures and the other is an economic review.

Leahy added that Fiji, Australia and NZ only allow cooked poultry to be imported.

Confidence

Responding to the ban, the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby says Australia’s strong regulatory controls provided a high level of confidence in poultry meat exported from the country.

It says maintaining market access for Australian agricultural products, including poultry exports to PNG, remains a key priority for Australia.