Large meat producers - Damate and Cherkizovo, controlled by members of the Babaev family, are forced to destroy part of the turkey and broiler population due to avian influenza. If the issue with the spread of the virus is not resolved in the near future, Russian poultry producers will not be able to provide stable supplies at affordable prices in the domestic market.

At the site of the largest Russian turkey producer, Damate, Naum Babayev, in the Kolyshleisky district of the Penza region, a bird flu virus has been identified. According to the company, the genome of the virus was detected in private farms of two districts of the region in June. The representative of Damate said that this is the first case of detection of avian influenza at the site of the group. The production unit, where the virus was detected, consists of 40 poultry houses. There were 470 thousand turkey heads. In total, "Damate" has 400 poultry farms at about 4.7 million head. Despite the outbreak of avian influenza, Damata is expected to keep production volumes of finished products at an ordinary level of 5.5-6 thousand tons per month. All turkey on the site in the Kolyshlay region will be destroyed, the total losses in Damat are estimated at about 400 million rubles.

Part of the losses the company expects to cover due to insurance compensation. According to the interviewee "Kommersant" in the veterinary industry, a complete restoration of the poultry farm "Damate" in the Kolyshlay region may take several months. The company did not answer this question on Thursday.

According to Agrifood Strategies, in 2017, Damate (the brand "IndyLite") produced 62 thousand tons of turkey, having occupied 27.14% of the market in physical terms (231.05 thousand tons). The closest competitor of the group "Eurodon" Vadim Vaneev for the same period produced 47.25 thousand tons of products, which corresponds to 20.68% of the market.

The site in Kolyshleisky district is the most remote poultry unit of the group, specified in Damat: the bulk of turkey production facilities are located in the Nizhnelomovsky district at a distance of more than 150 km from the source of infection. In the group, it is stated that enhanced sanitary security measures have been introduced in all well-placed areas, and personnel and transport have been transferred to the regime of increased biological protection. President of Agrifood Strategies Albert Daveleyev believes that the probability of transferring the virus to other sites of Damate is practically zero. According to Damata, in the private sector of the Kolyshlei region the mortality of poultry has been decreasing since the beginning of June. To exclude the risk of infection of industrial livestock by avian influenza is impossible, it can only be reduced to an affordable minimum, Mr. Davleev points out.

In the "Cherkizovo" group, Igor Babayev's families were also informed on Thursday evening about the detection of avian flu on the site in the Penza region, which is designed to reproduce the livestock of the parent herd of the bird and receive the hatching egg. The focus of the disease is localized and destroyed, losses are estimated at 100 million rubles., Added to Cherkizovo.

The group stated that no other diseases were detected on the other sites and they functioned in the operating mode. According to Rosptitsesoyuz, in 2017 the Cherkizovo group was the second broiler producer in the country, producing 615 thousand tons of products. In late 2016, the virus also encountered Eurodon. The company scored a bird with 6 out of 24 sites - more than 1 million goals. Losses exceeded 2.5 billion rubles., Mr. Vaneev told in an interview with Kommersant.

According to Albert Davleev, without the adoption of a whole range of state programs, outbreaks of avian influenza in Russia will inevitably arise again and again. If this issue is not addressed as a priority, the industry will not only be unable to realize its export potential, but will also be unable to maintain stable supplies of products on the domestic market at affordable prices, he warns. According to "Cherkizovo", the average cost of a turkey in May was at the level of 132.5 rubles. for 1 kg, which is 12% less than a year earlier.