Live poultry market closes in Beijing

Although bird flu had stopped raging for a while, the Beijing municipal government never mentioned, until now, whether the ban would be lifted. In June of this year, the Beijing Municipal Agriculture Bureau sent a notification, saying that Beijing could resume its live poultry trade in the market under limited conditions.

According to the notification, any markets or stalls that sell live fowls in the city should first obtain permission from the animal disease control centre in their districts and obtain related certificates. However, no stalls in Beijing had ever applied for such certificates and live poultry transaction had not resumed.

In a recently-issued document, the State Council urged big cities in China to gradually call off the killing and sales of live fowls in the market. It said that fowls should be killed at certain designated spots before they can be put on sale in the market. Based on this document, Beijing municipal government decided to close its live poultry trade market permanently.