PARLIAMENT | Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Ronald Kiandee said the subsidies for chicken farmers will end on Aug 31.
“The government had agreed to provide subsidies to chicken farmers amounting to a total of RM1.1 billion to ease the burden for chicken farmers.
“This subsidy started on February 5 and will end on Aug 31.
“As of July 29, a total of 8,970 subsidy applications have been approved for a total of RM748 million,” Kiandee said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was answering a question from Wong Shu Qi (Pakatan Harapan-Kluang) who had asked about the losses incurred by the chicken farming industry since the chicken export ban came into effect on June 1.
Kiandee assured that the chicken export ban was just a temporary measure put in place until the price and production of chicken had stabilised.
“We understand that banning exports will reduce the farmers’ profits, which is why we compensated the increased input costs for the fertiliser and food that the industry had to bear through subsidies,” he explained.
Earlier, Kiandee had mistakenly said the chicken export ban will end on Aug 31 while responding to an additional question from Wong.
His ministry later released a correction, affirming that it is the subsidy that is ending on the said date.
Wong had criticised the move to ban chicken exports as she claims that it led countries like Singapore - which relied heavily on Malaysia’s chicken exports - to diversify its national food supply and seek chickens from other countries.
“We have lost a market. So no matter whether we reopen or allow exports again, we have lost a customer. They have sought chickens from other countries.
“I’m sorry, minister. This is a wrong decision. We have made a wrong move here,” she added.
On Aug 1, Ronald revealed in Parliament that the country is now facing a slight oversupply of chicken.
"At this point, we are able to produce 106 percent of our self-sufficiency level. That means we have the capacity to export chicken from our country.
"We currently have a slight oversupply, which has caused the prices of chicken in the market to be lower than that of the ceiling price set by the government," he added.
This comes after the imposition of a ban on exports of poultry to secure domestic supplies and rein in rising food prices.
Malaysia, which supplies live chickens mainly to neighbouring Singapore and Thailand, stopped chicken exports in June.
The ban was to be maintained until production and prices returned to stable levels, after an international feed shortage, worsened by the Russia-Ukraine war, had disrupted production.
Addressing the issue of soaring chicken prices, the government set a ceiling price of RM9.40 per kg - 50 sen higher than the previous price set at RM8.90 - for chicken and grade A chicken eggs at 45 sen per seed in Peninsular Malaysia from July 1. - Mkini
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