December 16, 2005

Vietnam's poultry market back to life after bird flu

Vietnam's poultry markets are coming back to life after months of slow sales, as bird flu outbreaks in the country appear to be in check.

The first major market to re-open last week is in the Ha Tay province, 15 kilometres south-west of Hanoi, selling eggs and chickens certified as virus-free.

In the market, a long red banner place above a store read "Come and see our clean poultry and eggs", while other sellers gave out roast chicken samples to school children.

The Phuong Hien store in Ha Tay, which is managed by Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group, now sells about 400-500 chickens every day, or 4-5 times more from two weeks ago, according to store manager Tran Thien Quan, who also revealed that about 10,000 poultry had been culled by the company since the bird flu outbreak a year ago.

Vietnam has been the country hardest hit by the H5N1 bird flu. The north of the country was particularly badly hit by the latest outbreaks that began in early October. So far, 25 of Vietnam's 64 provinces, including 18 in the north, have been affected though ten of them have reported no fresh outbreaks in three weeks.

For the past two months, chicken and eggs have also disappeared from markets and restaurant menus across the country, as many people shunned poultry products on bird flu fears. More than 3.4 million poultry have been culled in Vietnam or have died from bird flu during this period.