Gov't to prioritise chicken supply for domestic market - Annuar

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will continue to ensure that the chicken supply for domestic consumers remains sufficient, says Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

He said he would be making an announcement on the next step after the Cabinet decides on the policy in a meeting to be held tomorrow.

"But what I would like to convey to the community is that we maintain the policy where the price of chicken needs to be kept under control, and the supply for the domestic market remains a priority," he said at a press conference after chairing a meeting of the special task force here today.

According to Annuar, who is also the Minister of Communications and Multimedia, the government has set the ceiling price of chicken at RM9.40 per kilogramme until Aug 31 and was providing poultry farmers a subsidy of RM1.20 for each kg of chicken produced.

He said RM888 million had been paid to farmers so far, and taking into account all these matters, the special team would make suggestions to the Cabinet on the price of chicken and the policy involving subsidies after Aug 31.

According to Annuar, the special team will also need to pay attention to the welfare of the poultry farming industry and strike a balance between a sustainable industry, that is, producers continuing to actively produce a certain number of chickens, and the current domestic needs of about 69 million chickens per month.

"To ensure that our country always has enough supply (of) about 69 million (chickens) per month, we maintain the policy of allowing the importation of whole chickens, that policy is still maintained, while the policy of not allowing exports, for the time being, will also only be decided upon by the Cabinet.

Annuar said the special team had also received views from industry players on the need to allow exports to resume.

"So all this will be discussed (by the Cabinet) tomorrow, and we will inform (about the developments) at the latest by our (task force's) next meeting, which is next week," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the special team would be getting feedback from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board on the average price of cooking oil for August, and from that information, the team would look at setting the ceiling price for the essential item.

-- BERNAMA