ROAST duck seller Henry Tan still feels a slight shudder when he thinks about August 2004. Avian flu had hit poultry stocks in Perak and other parts of Malaysia.

In response, Singapore closed the door to imports of Malaysian poultry - and he could see it slamming on his livelihood.

Every roast duck sold here was a Malaysian bird.

'Suppliers cut stocks suddenly by half and we were running at a loss of $20,000 a month for two months. We were afraid we would totally run out,' said Mr Tan, now 54.

But the same thing happening today would be water off a duck's back.

In April, frozen duck from Taiwan made their debut, and these birds have turned out to be as good, if not better than, a substitute as live Malaysian ducks.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.