Bird flu costs China industry US$65b: state media

China’s human H7N9 bird flu outbreak has cost the country’s poultry industry more than 400 billion yuan (HK$500 billion) as consumers shun chicken, government officials said according to state media Monday.

The sector has been losing an average of one billion yuan a day since the end of March, the Beijing Times said, citing Li Xirong, head of the National Animal Husbandry Service.

H7N9 avian influenza has infected 130 people in China, killing 35, since it was found in humans for the first time, according to latest official data.

via Business feed http://www.scmp.com/business/economy/article/1241867/bird-flu-costs-china-industry-us65b-state-media