Poultry traders will stop selling live chickens today to protest the government's ruling not to resume imports in the near future.
 
The decision is to protect people from avian influenza, said Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong. He was addressing the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene of the Legislative Council yesterday.

Most of the live poultry sold in Hong Kong comes from the mainland where an outbreak of avian flu has infected dozens of places.

The city has banned imports since the end of last month.

In order to ease the shortage of live poultry in the market, the government is considering importing fertilized eggs which will be hatched locally, Yeoh said.

But Wong Wai-chuen, chairman of Hong Kong Poultry Wholesalers and Retailers Association, said this option will increase the business costs, thus raising the price of poultry.

He asked the government to give a schedule for resuming poultry imports.

Legislator Wong Yung-kan, who represents the fishery and agriculture sector, called on the government to resume imports of day-old chickens as soon as possible. He said the government's import embargo has affected many poultry traders' sustenance.

To ease difficulties of the poultry industry, the government has decided to earmark HK$8.4 million as compensation.

(China Daily HK Edition February 26, 2004)