Chicken sellers in S Korea have reason to cheer this month as the industry recovers from the bird flu crisis, but a less rosy future lies ahead for pork sellers.

Wholesale price of a one-kilogramme chicken is now US$3.10, a 12-percent rise from last month. Retail prices are also up, with leading discount store Lotte Mart selling a 650-gramme chicken at US$4.24, 8 percent higher compared to two months ago.

Lotte Mart Public Relations Manager Na Geun-tae said the limited supply of chicken due to the slaughter of more than 8 million chickens over the bird flu virus in May has pushed up demand. In addition, high pork prices in recent months due to the anti-US beef sentiment are causing Koreans to buy chicken.

However, pork prices are starting to fall because of competition from chicken. Consumer prices for pork belly, the most popular cut, dropped 1.5 percent on July 4 from one month earlier. Retail prices for a 100-gramme pork belly at Lotte Mart fell by 15 percent to US$1.96 compared to last month.

Chief pork buyer at discount store Homeplus Gang Jin-muk expects pork prices to fall further from late August onwards due to reduced demand.

Since May, the South Korean public has been protesting against their government's decision to remove a US beef import ban that was imposed in 2003 due to the discovery of mad-cow disease in US cows.