February 22, 2006

Punjabi fish sellers jubilant as sales soar due to bird flu fears

Fish sellers in Punjab, one of India's most prolific chicken-eating states, are cashing in on recent reports of bird flu in poultry in Maharashtra, even as sales of chicken collapsed in several wholesale markets across the country.

Wholesalers in Punjab, known to many across the world as the land of "butter chicken", a much-relished chicken dish, are riding high on the scare, even though no case has yet been detected from this northern state.

"The last time there were rumors of bird flu, the market for fish had really picked up and it was difficult to find any fish.

"People serving chicken in weddings had switched over to serving fish. This time also, ever since there has been so much on the flu in television and in the newspapers, the market has literally soared," Dayai Lal, a wholesaler at a fish market in Amritsar, said on Monday.

Lal said people were switching over to fish and red meat triggering booming sales. Fish were retailing at nearly double the rates while rates of poultry had gone down more than 40 percent.

Like Lal, there are several others who are sold-out by midday and are employing more labour to increase their daily catch of fish.