Poultry industry under pressure

Tony's Farm, an organic foodstuff supplier in Shanghai, has started selling organic vegetables and fruit with a wide profit margin to offset the losses incurred by the temporary closure of its poultry department.

"Supplies of organic vegetables such as garlic, onions, ginger and tomatoes that boost human immune and resistance systems have been increased as a replacement for poultry products," said Wang Shuai, the PR manager at Tony's Farm, which has launched a wider range of prepackaged vegetables to meet the rising demand from customers.

In addition, certain farmers are looking forward to making profits soon from the rebound in demands for poultry products.

"I would like to buy more chicks in August, if that's possible," said Sun Hongrong, 39, who runs a family farm in a suburb in Shanghai's Songjiang district.

Normally, Sun raises 1,000 free-range chicks in his paddy fields every year. All are priced at around 120 yuan, higher than normal, because they eat rice kernels rather than chicken feed.

"Hopefully, the bird flu will disappear as temperatures rise. By that time, the demand for chicken will rise again, too, so I expect to see prices surge because of the short supply," said Sun.

Xie Yu in Shanghai contributed to the story.