Mainland chickens head back to Hong Kong markets
1,000 birds en route to city after lifting of ban imposed during New Year avian flu scare
About 1,000 live chickens from the mainland should arrive in the city on Tuesday - the first batch of live poultry allowed across the border since the New Year bird flu scare.
Food and Health Secretary Dr Ko Wing-man said the trade suspension had been lifted and believed the chickens would start reaching local markets by Wednesday - just a week before the Lunar New Year.
"The Food Safety Centre has received notification that it is likely that over 1,000 live chickens will be arriving in Hong Kong tomorrow," Ko said on Monday.
Leung Wai-tong from the Hong Kong and Kowloon Poultry Dealers and Workers Association said the birds would go some way towards meeting the Lunar New Year demand, but warned the delivery would serve only to control the rising prices of poultry and not see prices go down.
"The price won't fall… [however,] if this were 5,000 to 7,000 live chickens, then the price would drop around 20 per cent," said Leung.
Tsui Ming-tuen, chairman of the Poultry Wholesalers Association, would not comment when the contacted him.
The trade ban was issued on December 31, after samples from a farm in Huizhou, Guangdong, tested positive for the deadly H7N9 strain of avian flu.
The news led to a cull of 19,000 birds at New Kowloon's Cheung Sha Wan wholesale market.
The decision to destroy the birds and suspend the cross-border poultry trade came in a dramatic 1.30am press conference called by Ko.
Sale of local poultry resumed on January 13 with prices 10 to 30 per cent higher than usual - about HK$60 to HK$70 per catty (600 grams).
So far this year, Hong Kong has had two confirmed cases of bird flu; both patients had recently visited the mainland.
On Saturday, Ko raised concerns about the possibility of bird flu combining with the seasonal influenza and producing a new, more contagious virus.
Before the ban, usually about 7,000 live chickens were imported from the mainland each day, while local farms supply about 12,000 birds.