China airs plans to cope with bird flu
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-18 00:51

Market operators in Shanghai on Thursday sought to reassure shoppers about the safety of the chickens they buy amid a spate of bird flu outbreaks, as China's leaders proposed tax cuts and other measures to help the ailing poultry industry.

Chinese health workers cull a chicken in Zepu County, Northwest China's Xinjiang Ugyur Autonomous Region in this photo taken on November 12, 2005. More than 6,500 chickens were found infected by the virulent H5N1 bird flu strain in Urumqi and Zepu counties in the northwest Xinjiang region on Nov. 9, and more than 2,700 died.[Xinhua]

Sales of live chickens at Shanghai's Sanguantan Poultry and Eggs Wholesale Market have recently dropped by 90 percent to 10,000 a day, said Wang Baorong, the market's general manager.

"Live chicken sales are miserable here these days," Wang said. "The prices are also miserable, with the best grade of chicken selling for only 20 yuan ($2.50) per kilogram, about two-thirds of their normal price. Even some vegetables are more expensive than chicken."

China's poultry industry is massive, with an estimated 14 billion domestic fowl, including ducks, geese, pigeons, quail and chickens. Most poultry are raised by household farms, making it difficult to prevent repeated outbreaks of bird flu.

Neighborhood markets in most cities sell the birds live, in keeping with culinary traditions demanding the freshest possible ingredients. Some 70 million Chinese farmers depend on the poultry industry for their livelihood, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

" Bird flu is having a huge influence and the industry is suffering huge losses," said Gong Guifen, an expert with the Beijing-based National Poultry Industry Association.