To buy, or not to buy
NST, 27 Jan 2006

HANOI, Thurs. --- Down a narrow bloodstained alley in Hanoi, tubs overflow with flopping fish and tables are heaped high with piles of raw meat ranging from pigs’ feet to cow innards --- but only one woman sits next to a freezer selling chicken.

With the lunar New Year just days away, poultry vendor Nguyen Thi To Lan says on a good year, she’d be too busy to chat.

Before bird flu hit Asia, she said about 15 poultry vendors crowded into the downtown Hang Be market where squawking chickens crammed cages.

Some 500-600 birds were slaughtered here each day leading up to the new year, known as Tet in Vietnam.

But this year, she sits alone and says she’s lucky to sell 20 frozen birds a day following a Government ban on the sale of live poultry.

In many Asian countries, chicken or duck is central to lunar New Year feasts. And while some people are shying away from poultry during the Year of the Dog, others say they’re not about to let bird flu dampen tradition.

“Of course I will buy chicken for Tet. I’m not afraid of bird flu”, said Tran Ngoc Hien, a Vietnamese buying a plastic bag of fresh pork.

“For New Year’s eve, I need to offer one to my ancestors and I need two (to eat) on the third day of Tet”.

But in Singapore’s bustling Chinatown district, sellers of dried duck, chicken and other lunar New Year fare said fewer people were willing to buy poultry because of bird flu fears.

“This year, I’ve sold only half as many waxed ducks as I used to”, said Yap Wai Keong, who runs an outdoor stall displaying rows of preserved whole ducks, a Cantonese favorite.

“People are worried about bird flu even though we tell them the poultry is safe in Singapore”.

Asia’s poultry industry has taken a beating since the H5N1 bird flu virus began ravaging stocks across the region in 2003 --- an estimated 140 million birds have died or been slaughtered worldwide. --- AP.