Malaysia PM says govt needs a month or two to decide on lifting chicken export ban

The Malaysian will wait for another month or two before making a decision to lift the ban on chicken exports, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Saturday (Aug 20).

He said the delay to reallow exports would help ensure sufficient domestic supply and stable prices, although there is a current oversupply of chicken.

“We have discussed (the matter) in the Cabinet but we cannot make a decision yet as the chicken price is still subsidised.

“We will wait for one or two months, when this subsidy ends on Aug 31 and there is still a lot of supply and the price is low, then we may be able to allow exports,” Datuk Seri Ismail said.

Malaysian officials have said that subsidies for chicken and egg farmers will end on Aug 31.

Malaysia has faced a supply shortage of chicken since the beginning of the year due to extreme weather, labour shortages, and higher costs of feed due to the global supply disruption caused by the Russian-led war in Ukraine.

In response to local needs, the Malaysian government on June 1 banned the exports of chicken and chicken-based products, with aim of stabilising domestic chicken supply and prices.

Malaysia had previously exported some 3.6 million mostly live chickens each month to Singapore, which was about a third of Singapore’s total supply.

In mid-June, the Malaysian government partially eased the ban by allowing the exports of live premium chickens; kampung (free roaming) chicken and black chicken, as well as chicken-based products such as nuggets.

On July 13, Indonesia started delivering frozen chicken to Singapore. The first shipment delivered as much as 50,000kg of frozen chicken worth 2 billion rupiah (S$185,340).

To raise Malaysia chicken supplies and bring down prices, the government has also allowed for the import of chicken and chicken-based products.

Since the export ban, Malaysian chicken prices have kept below the government-mandated ceiling of RM9.40 (S$2.90) per kg, and the industry’s supply and inflation issues have been resolved, officials have said.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES