Controlled price of chicken is too low, says trade group

 

A trader was recently fined RM500 for selling chicken above the controlled price of RM8.90 per kg. He said his cost price was RM8.70 per kg.

PETALING JAYA: Levying fines on chicken traders for breaching price controls will force them out of the market, says an adviser to a livestock association.

Jeffrey Ng, adviser to the Malaysian livestock federation, said the controlled ceiling price of RM8.80 a kilogramme was too low.

He said there was “a lot of changing of hands” in the supply chain. “By the time you get to the traders, the RM8.90 price ceiling is unsustainable.”

Fines on traders for breaching the price controls would only worsen the plight of the industry, he said.

Recently, a video went viral in which a trader who was fined RM500 for selling chicken above the RM8.90 controlled price lamented that he could only earn a meagre profit of 20 sen per kilogramme as his cost price was RM8.70

Ng said he knew of more than 30 chicken farms that had gone out of business because of supply problems.

He said the ceiling price was set before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which had affected agricultural supplies.

“The war involves Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, who are big exporters of sunflower oil, corn, soybean and wheat (used in chicken feed). Furthermore, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were the eighth, ninth and tenth largest exporters of chicken,” Ng said.

The price of palm oil, also a main ingredient in chicken feed, had risen above RM7,000 a tonne.

Chicken trader Hamzah Abdullah, who runs a stall at Chow Kit market in Kuala Lumpur, said he could only stay in business by selling other products. “I also sell frozen food and other meats.” Hamzah told FMT.

He urged the government to find alternative means to address the chicken shortage. “The ministry in charge should make use of vacant plots of land and allow the kampung folk who are unemployed to breed chicken.” - FMT