June 16, 2008

South Korean poultry sales on recovery as bird flu fears fade
   
  

Chicken sales increased in June for the first time in the past three months as fears of bird flu faded away with the disease not striking since May 12.

Since the first bird flu report on April 1, chicken sales plummeted 60 percent on-year at E-Mart, according to a spokesperson at Shinsegae, which operates the retail chain.

At Lotte Mart, chicken sales dropped 40 percent on-year.

However, E-Mart has reported that chicken sales have since jumped back by 70 percent. Homeplus and Lotte Mart also said their chicken sales have increased rapidly compared to last month, a phenomena that an industry official has attributed to the usual high chicken demand during summer and that there has been no report of bird flu since mid-May.

Sales at chicken restaurants are also recovering, with major chicken franchise BBQ Chicken reporting a chicken sales record that is nearly on par with that of June 2007.