Sales of live chickens drop in Hong Kong as demand for masks goes up

Hongkongers are dropping live chickens from their shopping lists amid concern over the bird flu cases on the mainland, with poultry markets here seeing their sales halved despite a price cut.

Face masks and hand sanitisers, on the other hand, are flying off shelves as the city braces itself for an outbreak of the H7N9 virus.

"There has been panic," said Tsui Ming-tuen, chairman of the Poultry Wholesalers Association. "The sale [of live chickens] has been greatly affected. We're losing a lot of money."

Sales of the birds - those locally bred as well as imported from the mainland - dropped by about 50 per cent this week, after the deadly virus killed several infected people on the mainland.

The poultry market was now selling the birds for as low as HK$14 per kg - almost a third less than the HK$20 per kg it cost just last month, Tsui said.

"The cost for us to buy the chickens is around HK$18 to $19 per kg, so you can tell how much money we are losing," he said.

Tsui said the government should step up health measures and inspections of live poultry to guarantee the safety of the birds in order to put consumers' minds at ease.