20300244 Entry 6

Chicken sales plummet amid avian flu scare

Chicken sales have dropped following reports of the latest bird flu outbreak early this month, leading retailers said yesterday.
"Demand for chicken has been declining with the bird flu outbreaks, and news of it spreading has made consumers feel uneasy about eating chicken, driving more people to shun it altogether," said Park Tae-hoon, a spokesman for E-Mart, the country's leading discount store chain.
E-Mart said chicken sales dropped 15 percent between April 1 and 15 compared to a year ago, with sales just over the past weekend plunging by about 30 percent.
Lotte Mart, the third-largest discounter, saw chicken sales fall 14 percent from April 8 to 14 compared to a year ago. Homeplus, the second-largest discount store chain, had sales fall 4.7 percent between April 7 and 13. Over the past weekend, however, sales dropped 11.2 percent year-on-year, the discounter said.
"We believe the further decline during the weekend is a result of dampened consumer sentiment following the news that the bird flu is spreading," said Shana Lee, speaking for Homeplus.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture yesterday announced seven new suspected cases of the avian flu, or H5N1 virus, reported in the southwestern part of the country. News of the virus spreading has stirred criticism against government efforts to contain the disease.
On Wednesday, the ministry heightened the nationwide alert to "orange," the second highest level of risk. Most bird flu cases have been reported in the Jeolla provinces.
The leading discounters say the drop in chicken demand is not detrimental to their overall sales performance, since the product accounts for a small share of all the items they sell. They also say the impact of the latest bird flu outbreaks on poultry sales is still minor compared to previous experiences when demand had dropped by 50 percent.
"The impact on sales so far has been less compared to the outbreaks in previous years," said E-Mart's Park.
Retailers also attribute the less dramatic reaction of consumers to greater awareness from past cases, which generated reports that bird-flu-infected poultry is safe to consume if it is cooked above 75 degrees Celsius.
Still, at high-end department stores like Lotte Department Store, where less volume of poultry is sold, chicken sales are "next-to-nothing," said Koo Sae-hee, a Lotte Department Store spokeswoman.
Consumers like Hyun Su-sun, a working woman and housewife in her mid-40s, would also prefer to play it safe.
"I feel uneasy about eating chicken, because you can never be too safe when it comes to food safety and all the uncertainty about viruses," Hyun said.
"Even if experts say it's safe to eat chicken well-cooked, I prefer not to take the risk, especially when animals like birds are difficult to contain since they fly and can quickly spread diseases," she added.
Hyun said the recent spate of controversies in the food industry triggered by Nongshim's fried shrimp chips, with a reported case of a mouse head found in a package by a consumer, and a knife blade discovered in a can of tuna manufactured by Dongwon F&B, could also sap consumer appetite.
"It is ultimately up to the consumer to buy a product or not," said Hyun.
By Yoo Soh-jung , Korea Herald

My thoughts
When something unexpected thing which is also negative to your business happens, you will have difficult time. Or, even, you may have bankruptcy. So it is crucial to think a head about the difficulties that possibly you can have. If very new and difficult problem happens to your company you may not know what to do. However, if you have a problem which already had taken place in your company or the other companies you should know how to react or you should already have your preparation for that. In this case of bird flu, it already happened past. If you were excellent business person you should have manual for when bird flu happens now. It is because that as the world goes more complicated we would have more unexpected things happening to our business. Have integrity in your business, especially for your company’s uncertain, undefined and unexpected risks.