The bird flu scare has done nothing to dampen Hong Kong's
appetite for chicken, the vital ingredient for the traditional
Lunar New Year meal.
Tsui Ming-tuen, chairman of the Hong Kong Live Poultry Wholesale
Association, was quoted by Saturday's South China Morning
Post as saying that 2.03 million live chickens had been sold
in the 10 days leading up to the holiday, a rise of 23 percent over
the same period last year.
"The increased monitoring by the government of chicken imports
has given the public more confidence about eating chicken in Hong
Kong, despite the bird flu in other Asian countries," Tsui
said.
He also attributed the increase to the economic recovery, which
meant the public and restaurants had switched from the cheaper,
frozen chickens to fresh ones.
In Wan Chai's Bowrington Road Market, 60-year-old Yau Bo-ching,
a poultry vendor for 20 years, said, "Everyone buys chicken in the
New Year."
"Even the poor have to buy one to celebrate. Bird flu does not
affect our sales," he said.
The high demand had driven the price of fresh chicken on Yau's
stall up from 20 Hong Kong dollars to about 28 Hong Kong dollars a
catty (500 grams).
Lee Kan-rung, 31, whose Lee Fung Restaurant near the market
sells frozen chicken, said he had sold 100 frozen chickens on
Friday morning. On a typical day he would sell 20.
"The young may try to avoid chickens," he said, "but the old
still stick to it because it's tradition."
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation
Department has stepped up monitoring of bio-security measures at
chicken farms and surveillance of wild birds at recreation parks
after a dead peregrine falcon tested positive for H5N1 bird flu on
Wednesday.
(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2004)