Industry sources said Monday South Korea's chicken consumption, which has been moribund of late due to recent outbreaks of bird flu throughout Asia, is showing signs of picking up, helped along in no small part by local retailers' promotional events.

The sources said Hyundai Department Store's Cheonho branch in eastern Seoul sold all of its 150 chickens on sale last Saturday, a large improvement on its daily average sales of 30, following the bird flu scare that began sweeping the nation in December.

The department store's Sinchon branch also saw sales of 100 and 150 chickens on Friday and Saturday, respectively, up to seven times higher than recent daily averages of 20 or 30.

A Hyundai Department Store official said consumers' reactions to the company's chicken promotion event has been very good, and that the increase in sales is largely due to the "buy one, get one free" event the department store has been holding since last Friday.