If consumers avoid hoarding, there will be enough fish for everyone.
The Fisheries Department told consumers that fish supplies are enough as long as they don’t hoard, The Star reported today, amid mounting concerns over critical food shortages.
The department’s director-general, Mohd Suffian Sulaiman, said fish supplies from the sea, ponds, and rivers were sufficient to fulfil demand, and he urged the people against panic buying.
According to our calculations, there is ample supply to meet national demand because Malaysia has 32 million people and each individual consumes roughly 40kg per year. Malaysia should not have supply issues if consumers do not resort to panic buying and hoarding more fish than they normally consume.
Because of the unpredictable weather in the last two months, the National Fishermen’s Association chairman Abdul Hamid Bahari stated last week that the amount of fish landings had plummeted by about two-thirds from more than a million tonnes per month.
Meanwhile, Datuk Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal, Chairman of the Fisheries Development Authority, told reporters elsewhere that there is a fish supply constraint, which he blamed on “bureaucratic difficulties” and a “poor delivery system.”
Due to increased demand and a supply deficit, fish prices have skyrocketed in recent weeks. According to the authorities, mackerel, one of the most popular fish in Malaysia, can now cost up to RM20 per kilogramme, up from RM8 previously.
