A worker is cleaning the henhouse, Thailand, July 7, 2004.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

   BANGKOK, July 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The new outbreak of bird flu in Thailand's central Ayutthaya province will likely hit the country's poultry industry with shares of its two major chicken exporters plummeted, local media reported Wednesday.

   According to the Business Day website, shares of Thailand's two major chicken exporters Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF) and GFPT closed 0.12 baht lower to 3.94 baht and 0.6 baht lower to 14.1 baht, respectively on Tuesday.

   Earlier in the day, the Thai government confirmed the fresh outbreak of bird flu after thousands of chickens died in a farm located in Pak Hai district of Ayutthaya.

   Amid fears that the country's export industry will be wrecked again by the deadly bird flu disease, the shares of some of the listed poultry farming companies went down.

   The bird flu crisis at the beginning of the year has caused losses of billions of bahts and a 0.5 percent drop in the first quarter gross domestic product (GDP). 

   The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) said that if it was not for the bird flu, Thailand's first quarter GDP would have been 7 percent against the registered 6.5 percent.

   The new outbreak has inflicted a negative impact on the short-term sentiment in the market as Thailand could not announce the end of the bird flu outbreak, ahead of being certified by the World Health Organization (WHO), Nutchjarin Kasemsukworarat, an analyst at SCB Securities was quoted by the Business Day website as saying.

   Thailand's main importers of poultry products such as Japan and the European Union banned the import of poultry products during the previous outbreak of bird flu.

   To ward off the effects of the bird flu crisis, the  CPF and GFPT turned to producing more processed chicken for exports.

   An analyst at KGI Securities Plc said the new outbreak will cause low revenue for CPF.   
  
   However, it will not affect the company's exports as CPF does not export frozen chicken but focuses on processed chicken, he added.  Enditem