BRASILIA, June 4 (Reuters) - Brazil hopes to

significantly ease trade restrictions on its chicken exports

later this month, after a four-week observation period following

a bird flu outbreak on a commercial farm in mid-May, Agriculture

Minister Carlos Favaro said Wednesday.

Some 21 countries have imposed country-wide restrictions on

chicken imports from Brazil, Favaro told reporters, adding that

a number of importers, including China and the European Union,

are in talks to limit the geographic scope of the trade bans.