Hong Kong, Feb 06: Hong Kong poultry farms resumed supplies of live chickens to the city's markets on Friday after the government allowed the sale of locally grown birds following pressure from farmers.
The government had banned the sales last week amid growing fears over the spread of deadly bird flu in Asia.
Hong Kong is one of the few places in Asia that is still free of the H5N1 virus, which has killed 16 people and decimated poultry populations in the region.
The city's ban on chicken imports from mainland China, where the disease is widely spreading.
Before dawn on Friday, some 40,000 chickens from about 18 farms were trucked to the city's wholesale poultry market in Kowloon as restaurateurs and retailers milled about before making their picks.
The number was only about a third of what is normally supplied to wholesale markets and traders quickly complained about prices, now almost twice what they were before the ban.
"It's to do with demand. Customers will have to pay more now," said Wong Wai-cheun, a chicken vendor.
To keep out the disease, Hong Kong has imposed a string of measures. They include compulsory vaccinations, sealing local farms from wild birds and testing samples before chickens are released into markets.
The H5N1 virus was first detected in Hong Kong in 1997 when it killed six people. Bureau Report