Prices of chicken and eggs will go up even higher if there is no government intervention, said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi. He continued that the government, including the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP), had and will continue to take proactive steps to balance the rise of chicken and egg prices in the market.
Among the steps already taken were extending the Malaysian Family Maximum Price Control Scheme (SHMKM) until Feb 4, importation of frozen round chicken and providing soft loan facilities to chicken breeders to overcome the sudden rise in chicken prices in the market. Minister Nanta said that the implementation of SHMKM, which was scheduled to end on Dec 31, 2021, had been extended for another 35 more days, effective Jan 1 until Feb 4, 2022, while the ceiling price of chicken had been fixed at RM6.10 per kilogramme (kg) ex-farm, RM (Ringgits) 7.80 per kg wholesale and RM9.10 per kg retail. Apart from that, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries (MAFI) also imports 10,000 metric tons of frozen round chicken or 5.5 million chickens a month.
“With the increase in supply in the market, the problem of a supply shortage of chicken is eliminated and at the same time healthy competition is created, which in turn will control and balance prices of chicken in the market,” he said in a post on Facebook here on Saturday (Jan 8) following his statement regarding increases in chicken and egg prices in the market when SHMKM ends on Feb 4.
