THE Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries (Mafi) is confident that the chicken supply in the market will be stabilised by February next year, its minister Dr Ronald Kiandee said.

He said his ministry, through the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS), held engagement sessions with local poultry industry players who gave their commitment to increase production capacity in line with current demand.

“This problem (chicken supply) is temporary and the import (of frozen whole chicken) made by the government is a temporary measure too. It will be stopped as soon as local production is stabilised,” he said at the ministers’ question time session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to a supplementary question from Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof (Alor Gajah-Bersatu) on specific programmes implemented by the ministry to meet the needs of chicken supply and thus stabilise chicken prices.

“Due to the MCO (movement-control order), the industry reduced poultry production and the situation became critical when the economy reopened and demand for chicken increased,” he said.

He said the production of chicken in October was 52.05 million birds and dropped to 51.4 million in November, a shortfall of 17.73% compared to the actual need.

Meanwhile, the projected chicken production in December is at 61 million, he said.

Ronald said the average chicken demand in the country is 3,762 tonnes per day or 113,220 tonnes a month.

In the meantime, he gave his assurance that the import of frozen chicken from nine plants in Thailand and two in China is safe and halal, and these are under the watch of the inspection committee comprising the DVS and the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim). – Bernama, December 14, 2021.