The government has approved the import of frozen chicken meat from foreign countries to address the shortage of domestic chicken supply for three months from December to February next year.
According to a release from the Ministry of Agriculture, the country’s daily demand for chicken is 3,762 metric tons or 2.09 million units, and monthly demand is 113,220 metric tons or 62.9 million units. The country’s chicken market experienced an average shortage of 18 percent in October and November and is only expected to continue in December.
The lack of domestic chicken supply has resulted in the price of chicken being marked up to RM10 per kilogram. The government is considering importing up to 10,000 metric tons or 5.5 million chickens per month to address the chicken shortage. Cheap chicken is flooding the market and this will give people one more option instead of buying expensive local chicken.
Importing frozen chicken is a short-term measure and the government will stop importing frozen chicken once the domestic chicken market supply is stable.
In addition, the Ministry of Trade and Consumer Affairs will implement a price cap program from December 7 to 31, in which vegetables, eggs and meat will be subject to price caps!
Basic commodities that will be subject to price controls include live chickens, standard clean chickens (with giblets and feet), super clean chickens (without giblets and feet), Grade A eggs (65 to 69.9 grams), Grade B eggs (60 to 64.9 grams) and Grade C eggs (55 to 59.9 grams). For vegetables, there are long beans, red peppers, tomatoes, choy sum, imported cabbage (Indonesia and China, excluding Beijing) and cucumbers.
The Ministry of Trade and Consumer Affairs announced a maximum price of RM9.30 per kilogram of net chicken. The Ministry of Trade and Consumer Affairs will announce maximum prices for other regulated basic commodities in the near future.
