This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 001523 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BRUSSELS PASS USEU FOR AGMINCOUNSELOR 
STATE FOR OES; EUR/ERA AND EBB ; 
STATE PASS USTR FOR MURPHY; 
USDA/OS/JOHANNS AND PENN; 
USDA/FAS FOR OA/TERPSTRA/ROBERTS/WETZEL/MAGINNIS; 
ITP/SHEIKH/HENKE/MACKE/TOM POMEROY/MIKE 
WOOLSEY/GREG YOUNG; 
FAA/SEBRANEK/BLEGGI; 
EU POSTS PASS TO AGRICULTURE AND ECON 
GENEVA FOR USTR, ALSO AGRICULTURE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ETRD EU KFLU TBIO FR
SUBJECT: French Response to Discovery of AI in a 
Commercial Farm 
 
 
¶1. Summary : Following the discovery of the H5N1 
Avian Influenza (AI) virus in late February on a 
commercial poultry farm in the Ain district, 47 
countries have placed partial or complete bans on 
French poultry imports, domestic poultry 
consumption has dropped more than 30 percent, 
poultry prices have fallen domestically and 
overseas and hatcheries have begun voluntarily 
destroying some production. French poultry 
companies estimate that their losses could exceed 
tens of millions of euros in 2006. The French 
Government has raised over 60 million euros to 
help poultry farmers and poultry companies. In the 
meantime, more infected wild birds have been found 
dead in the Ain district and more recently an 
infected swan was found in the Bouches du Rhne 
district, close to Marseille. End Summary 
 
¶2. On March 5th, the Ministry of Agriculture 
confirmed that France had additional cases of 
highly pathogenic H5N1 virus in wildfowl (AI) near 
the city of Saint Mittre les Remparts in the 
Bouches du Rhne district, close to Marseille, and 
in the Ain district, near the Swiss border.  This 
followed the announcement on February 25th that 
France was the first EU country to find AI in a 
commercial flock. 
 
¶3. The origin of the outbreak on the commercial 
l 
farm remains unknown.  French veterinary services 
hypothesize that either journalists brought the 
virus from the site of an infected wild bird to 
the farm on their shoes or, that straw stored 
outside was contaminated with droppings from 
infected wild birds and was subsequently passed to 
the commercial flock when the straw was spread in 
the poultry houses.  11,300 turkeys were destroyed 
as a control measure. 
 
¶4. In an effort to combat the spread of AI from 
wild birds to commercial flocks, France has 
adopted preventive measures, including requiring 
that commercial birds be kept inside, and in areas 
of potential vulnerability to contamination from 
migratory birds where it is impractical to house 
these flocks, implementing a plan for preventive 
vaccination. Reportedly, few farmers in the Landes 
District have vaccinated their birds, to date. 
Some farmers and poultry processors expressed 
concern that they would have difficulty selling 
the meat from vaccinated birds, especially abroad. 
 
¶5. According to European Commission Decision 
2006/148/EC, dated February 24, 2006, France may 
not export any vaccinated live poultry, or 
hatching eggs and day-old chicks originating from 
vaccinated poultry.  All intra-EU trade for 
consignments of live poultry, day-old chicks and 
hatching eggs must be accompanied by a health 
certificate stating that the consignment 
originated from holdings where no vaccination 
against avian influenza had been carried out. 
 
¶6. Over forty countries, to date, including the 
United States, have reacted to France's 
confirmation of AI in domestic poultry with 
partial or complete bans on imports of live 
poultry and poultry meat and products from France. 
Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Trade, 
publicly praised the United States for setting a 
temporary ban on the importation of poultry and 
commercial shipments of live birds, hatching eggs, 
and unprocessed avian products only from the 
affected Department of Ain and encouraged other 
countries to take a similar approach in line with 
OIE guidelines.  (However, most bans announced to 
date are more global in scope.)  The U.S. ban will 
have no impact on the French poultry industry as 
no meat and poultry products are exported from 
this region to the U.S. 
 
¶7. France is expected to take export losses as a 
result of these bans. The country exported 218 
million U.S. dollars of poultry products to the 
countries mentioned above in 2005. The French 
Ministry of Trade estimates that about 14 percent 
of total poultry meat exports and 10 percent of 
total live birds exports will be affected by the 
ban.  So far, Saudi-Arabia, the largest non-EU 
customer of French poultry meat, has not placed 
any ban on French products, but, trade contacts 
reported that Saudi orders for French poultry in 
the first two months of 2006 were 20 percent below 
their level of 2005. 
 
Impact on the Industry 
 
¶8. Reaction to the discovery of AI in a commercial 
flock rippled swiftly throughout the industry. 
Domestic poultry consumption experienced 
immediate and significant declines, according to 
various sources, in excess of 30 percent since 
February 2006, which has negatively affected 
French poultry prices.  In response, French 
poultry exporters are aggressively pricing their 
products in some EU markets, such as the United 
Kingdom, which, in turn, generates further 
downward pressure on prices in the domestic French 
market. According to the French Poultry Technical 
Institute (ITAVI), commercial stocks of poultry 
meat at the end of 2005 were 76 percent higher (at 
21,200 MT) than in 2004. 
 
¶9. To minimize losses, which could exceed tens of 
millions of Euros in 2006, due to lower sales and 
inflated stocks, poultry producers and 
slaughterhouses have implemented measures to 
reduce costs.  These measures include: not 
renewing temporary and interim work contracts 
(which amounts to several thousand people 
throughout France); putting some workers on 
technical unemployment, which allows workers 
suffering from a temporary loss of income (i.e. 
not being paid by their employers due to technical 
or economic difficulties) to claim partial 
unemployment benefits from the Government; and 
asking farmers to increase the time between flocks 
from the average 2 to 3 weeks to 5 to 9 weeks. 
Hatching eggs producers and hatcheries are 
currently voluntarily destroying about one-fifth 
of their production. 
 
French Government Reaction 
 
¶10. The French Government has responded to the 
financial entreaties of the poultry sector by 
providing 63 million euros in financial 
assistance, earmarking more than 20 million euros 
for poultry farmers and 30 million euros for 
poultry companies.  In addition, the French 
Government will fund a 2 million euros TV 
advertising campaign to support the purchase and 
consumption of poultry meat.  France notified the 
European Commission of these subsidies in order to 
avoid contravening EU internal market regulations. 
So far, EU Agricultural Commissioner Mariann 
Fischer Boel has ruled out an EU intervention to 
sustain poultry markets. 
 
¶11. On March 4th, the Ministry of Agriculture 
announced the following assistance measures: 
 
- An immediate cash advance of 1,000 Euros to 
2,000 Euros for all specialized poultry farmers 
(i.e. more than 25 percent of their income is from 
producing poultry).  Their losses between November 
1st 2005 and April 30, 2006 could also be 
compensated. 
 
- Extra compensation to poultry farmers within the 
quarantine district of Ain. 
 
- Supplemental support for free-range poultry 
farmers, no details provided yet.  (Free-range 
conditions are now prohibited in France so these 
farmers lose their premium.) 
 
- Social tax reductions for young poultry 
producers. 
 
- Tax rebates for poultry companies. 
 
More subsidy announcements are expected shortly. 
 
 
Stapleton