FEDERATION of Livestock Farmers Associations of Malaysia adviser Datuk Jeffrey Ng was dumbfounded that instead of helping poultry farmers to curb an ‘overblown’ supply shortage, the Government has resorted to the idea of importing frozen chicken.
Ng contended that the issue of limited chicken supply was not as bad as it had been made out to be and was mostly due to lack of monitoring at the production level.
“While some places may have a shortage of supply, this is only in two or three places,” he noted. “But if you look at any wholesale market or hypermarket, it’s evident that chicken supply is enough for consumers.”
To re-cap, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government would import 200 to 300 containers of frozen chicken during the week of Dec 6-12 to ensure chicken prices were kept low with supply coming from China or Thailand.
More broadly, the Government has allowed companies to import frozen chickens starting from December 2021 to February 2022 to cover what it deemed as temporal shortages of chicken supply and to curb excessive inflation in Malaysian chicken prices.
It was stated that up to 10,000 metric tonne (MT) of frozen chicken could be imported per month which is akin to three-day worth of Malaysian broiler consumption that is estimated at circa 3,800MT per day.
“Although we laud government’s agile move in permitting imports to ensure food sufficiency in Malaysia, we reckon chicken prices are not likely to reduce,” observed TA Securities Research analyst Jeff Lye Zhen Xiong in a consumer sector update.
“However, we understand the average imported frozen chickens from these countries may be more expensive than Malaysian fresh chicken.”
According to Thailand Ministry of Commerce, the country exported 3.44 million MT of frozen chickens worth 28.3 bil baht (RM3.55 bil) in 2020 which translates to average price of 82 baht/kg or circa RM10.30/kg.
“Even prior to account for widespread price inflation across 2021 and elevated freight charges, the average price of Thailand’s exported frozen chickens in 2020 is already higher compared to the ceiling price of wholesale super chicken (slaughtered and dressed without leg, head, liver and gizzard) set at RM9.30/kg for Peninsula Malaysia during the December 2021 festive season,” justified TA Securities Research.
“Hence, we believe imports could help to ease shortage in supply but may not necessarily reduce prices given that food cost increase is a global phenomenon.” – Dec 24, 2021
