February 19, 2004

Malaysia Raise Price Of Dressed Chicken

The Federation of Livestock Farmers' Association, Malaysia (FLFAM) has raised the price of dressed chickens from RM3.35 to RM4 per kg on Wednesday following a surge in demand.

The price was RM4.20 before the bird flu outbreak in the region.

FLFAM Broiler Unit chairman Yap Kim Hwah said the move to hike the price was due to the encouraging feedback it received from consumers over its one-week nationwide campaign to get Malaysians to eat more chicken.

"The demand has been great and consumers are beginning to have confidence to eat chicken again.

"They now realise that chicken sold in Malaysia are safe to consume," he said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

He said the selling price for Superdressed chicken without shank, head, liver and gizzard was now sold at RM4.00 compared with the original price of RM4.70, while live chicken is sold at RM2.80 per kg, compared with RM3.50 previously.

"We hope that with the new prices, it will encourage more people to eat chicken," he said.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said while the Government had no plans of giving any financial assistance to the livestock farmers, it would help in the campaign to encourage the public to eat more chicken.

"This is not an issue of subsidy but we will try other means to help the farmers," he said when asked to comment on a statement by the federation's honorary adviser Datuk Francis Lau that the increase in the price of chicken feed had compounded the losses suffered by the industry.

Muhyiddin said the ministry's Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Mardi) was in the midst of completing a study to look at ways to reduce the cost of producing animal feed.

"But the initial step to address this problem is to get the public to help boost the sale of chickens. Consumers must have confidence in the Government when we say that it is safe to eat chicken," he said.

He added that the media must also give an accurate picture of the bird flu situation and not create alarm.

"I have to stress again that Malaysia is free of avian flu. It is safe to consume our chicken. In fact, we are also exporting them to other countries such as Japan."