(Yicai Global) Feb. 6 -- State-owned agricultural reserves group has put over 6,300 tons of soybean meal in the mail to Central Hubei province to save hundreds of millions of chicken from starvation amid the new coronavirus outbreak. 

After receiving a call from a poultry association in Hubei, China Grain Reserves Group dispatched three shipments with animal feed yesterday, The Paper reported. 

Due to restricted traffic, it has been hard to ensure sufficient supplies of soybean meal and corn, alliance chief Yang Yan told the same news source. The province has been hit by the novel coronavirus epidemic the worst with 549 deaths and nearly 19,700 confirmed cases.

Part of the delivery problem is caused by an increasing number of roadblocks. On Feb. 4, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs prohibited people from setting up unauthorized checkpoints or barriers in order to keep the country's supply chains running smoothly. 

Hubei is China's No. 6 biggest egg producer. The current inventory is nearly 348 million chickens and the province usually has 170 million egg laying hens each year. Hence, the daily need for feed is large at 3,000 tons, more than half of which consists of soybean meal. 

Editor: Emmi Laine