Retail vendors won't buy live chickens from wholesalers today in protest against the government's decision to slash the daily import quota from the mainland to 20,000, which they said had seriously hurt their business.

The government banned chicken import from the mainland last month after a man in Guangzhou died of bird flu. Later, it reduced the quota from 30,000 to 20,000 a day.

The one-day protest, however, should not increase the retail prices or lead to a shortfall in supply of live chicken because the vendors would continue selling the 60,000 chickens in their stock.

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