KUALA LUMPUR – The Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry (Mafi) is confident that the chicken supply in the market will be stabilised by February next year, said its minister Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee (Beluran-Bersatu).
He said his ministry, through the Veterinary Services Department (DVS), held engagement sessions with local poultry industry players, who gave their commitment to increase production capacity in line with current demand.
“This problem (chicken supply) is temporary, and the import (of frozen whole chicken) made by the government is a temporary measure too. It will be stopped as soon as local production is stabilised,” he said during Ministers’ Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof (Alor Gajah-Bersatu) on specific programmes implemented by the ministry to address chicken supply and thus stabilise chicken prices.
“Due to the MCO, the industry was reducing poultry production and this situation becomes critical when the economy reopens and the demand for chicken increases,” he said.
He said the production of chicken in October was 52.05 million birds and dropped to 51.4 million in November, a shortfall of 17.73% compared to the actual need.
Meanwhile, the projected chicken production in December is at 61 million, he said.
Kiandee said the average chicken demand in the country was 3,762 tonnes per day or 113,220 tonnes a month.
In the meantime, he assured that the import of frozen chicken from nine plants in Thailand and two in China is safe and halal, and vetted through the inspection committee comprising the DVS and the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim). – Bernama, December 14, 2021
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