CHICKEN breeder Shandong Yisheng Livestock & Poultry Breeding Co. has secured a rare supply of breeding birds from a French genetics firm, a step it hopes could help pave the way to boosting the security of the nation’s meat supply.

    China imports all the breeding stock for its white-feathered broiler chickens.

    But China has banned poultry shipments from a number of countries in the wake of bird flu outbreaks around the world, leading to its first shortfall in chicken meat in at least a decade.

    Yisheng said that Hubbard, a unit of genetics firm Groupe Grimaud, would supply it with “great-grandparent” birds, or the offspring of pedigree lines, under a contract worth nearly 72 million yuan (US$10.4 million).

    Foreign genetics firms currently only sell “grandparent” stock to Chinese breeders, from which local firms can breed and sell progeny to farmers.

    “The significance of this is to reduce the times needed to import grandparents. Normally importing great grandparents all at once can save five to six times of importing grandparents,” said Jiang Taibang, board secretary at Shandong Yisheng.

    The company said that the new agreement would allow China to protect its “national poultry industry’s healthy and orderly development.”

    Li Jinghui, managing director of the China Poultry Association, said the move was also significant as it could eventually lead to China having the option of regenerating its poultry flock in the event that imports of breeding stock came to a complete halt.(SD-Agencies)