Southern Guangdong Province is ready to resume live poultry exports to Hong Kong and Macao "any time" to meet the market demand, officials said Wednesday.

"None of Guangdong's 330 registered poultry farms that provide poultry to Hong Kong and Macao have thus far reported any case of bird flu," said Huang Weiming, deputy director of Guangdong Provincial Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GPAQSIQ).

"Our sample blood testing of the chickens in the registered farms showed they are healthy," Huang said, adding that the chickens' bird flu antibody-level had reached or exceeded the requirements of Hong Kong.

More than 60 million chickens in the farms had been vaccinated against the avian influenza virus since August 2003, under an agreement between the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and Hong Kong and Macao.

The wholesale price of chickens in Hong Kong has soared as only those raised in Hong Kong are allowed to be sold in markets and Guangdong restored its exports of braised chicken to Hong Kong beginning Feb. 5 with 5,000 every day.

Excluding chickens raised in Shenzhen and Zhuhai special economic zones, Guangdong still has more than 20 million live chickens waiting for export to Hong Kong and Macao, according to GPAQSIQ.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2004)