France's poultry sector, the biggest in Europe, is now losing 40 million euros ($48 million) a month as bird flu hits sales at home and abroad, French officials said on Friday.
The Paris government has said more than 40 countries have restricted imports of French poultry following the outbreak of H5N1 at a turkey farm in the east of the country.
Germany's poultry industry has lost more than 140 million euros since last autumn because of bird flu, with demand down some 20 percent from previous levels. Germany identified more than 140 cases of wild birds with H5N1, as well as a cat.
Hungarian poultry producers said on Friday their sales had fallen by up to 20 percent since H5N1 was first found there in dead swans on February 21. Chicken sales were hardest hit.
From Reuters, read the entire article - it also contains situation updates from around the world. Effect Measure points out insurance companies do not typically offer policies covering bird flu to the poultry industry. At the end of last year there were some reports of avian flu life insurance policies being offered to individuals in China.