The End of Chinese Chicken Ban is Good News for Louisiana

In January of 2015 an avian flu outbreak led to a ban on all American poultry.  That ended up costing U.S. producers somewhere between $500 million and $1 Billion every year.  Even though the USDA reported an all clear in 2017, the Chinese government kept the ban in place until earlier today.  That's great news for American poultry farmers, especially in Louisiana.

The move is driven by another disease, this time in China, threatening their supply of meat.   A fatal hog disease, African swine fever, has killed millions of pigs in the country in the past year causing a crucial meat shortage.  To offset it, the Chinese government ended the 4 year ban and plans to come back in a huge way.  To offset the pork shortage, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that China plans to buy a billion dollars worth of American chicken, turkey and duck.

In Louisiana, poultry is big business.  The Bayou State produces about $2 billion worth of edible bird and the new deal with China is expected to make that number even higher.