Malaysia Suspends Chicken Exports Over Domestic Shortage

By Jane Muia / Published May 24, 2022 | 3:08 pm

KEY POINTS

Malaysian chicken ban comes some few weeks after Indonesia stopped exports of palm oil, a move that saw palm oil prices go through the roof.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Chicken shortage in Malaysia has been attributed to the rising costs of chicken production, disease infection, and weather conditions.

Malaysia has said it will cut chicken exports from June following shortages in the country. The move comes at a time when Malaysians are struggling with high chicken prices. At the same time, retailers, have put limits on the amount of meat a customer can purchase due to shortages.

On Monday, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the South East Asian country will stop exporting as many as 3.6m chickens every month “until domestic prices and production stabilize”.

Chicken shortage in Malaysia has been attributed to the rising costs of chicken production, disease infection, and weather conditions.

The move will highly affect various countries including Singapore, which imports 34 percent of its chicken from Malaysia, almost all of which are brought in as live chickens which are then slaughtered and chilled locally.

Other countries that imports chicken from Malaysia include Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, and Brunei.

Malaysian chicken ban comes some few weeks after Indonesia stopped exports of palm oil, a move that saw palm oil prices go through the roof. The top producer of the ingredient used in everything from processed food to soap, stopped exports for three weeks to bring down local prices of cooking oil. The ban was lifted on Monday, May 23rd.

India also banned its wheat exports sending the prices of the staple cereal to a record high this month. The decision by the Indian government came after a heatwave in the country drove domestic prices to a record high.

All these come as the world faces the worst food crisis in decades following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In Kenya, prices of common goods are still on a rising spree. cooking oil prices for instance have jumped by almost 33 percent Since March 2022 making it the country’s most expensive essential commodity. Other commodities that have seen the price increase include laundry soap, detergents, petrol, diesel wheat flour, fresh packeted cow milk, exotic eggs, kale-sukuma wiki, tomatoes, Irish potatoes, and cooking gas.