December 27, 2013
Malaysia to set up chicken feed plant in Pahang
In order for the state to export animal feed to Peninsular Malaysia and to Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Areas (BIMP-EAGA), the Malaysian government should set up an animal feed plant for chicken in Sabah, and not in Gebeng, Pahang.
This is according to BIMP-EAGA chairman Datuk Roselan Johar Mohamed.
In welcoming the idea, Roselan said the proposed plant would have numerous advantages.
"Sabah very badly needs a manufacturing industry that can produce exports to Peninsular and the BIMP-EAGA regions. This feed-mill plant can produce 20,000 tonnes of animal feed (or more, if need be). They can be exported out of Sabah in containers to either Kuantan or Port Klang and the rest to the BIMP-EAGA regions," he said in statement.
Roselan was responding to a statement by Minister of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob that an animal-feed for chicken plant would be set up in Gebeng, Kuantan, Pahang, next year as an effort to reduce Malaysia's dependency on imported chicken feed.
However, Roselan, who is also Sabah Bumiputera Chamber of Commerce Treasurer, opined that the proposed chicken-feed plant should be put on hold until both the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Sabah Ministry of Agriculture discuss a possible joint-venture in setting up a similar factory in Sabah.
He said Sabah's monthly imports averaged about 10,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) per month or about 120,000 TEUs per year but the state hardly exported 1,000 TEUs per month. Such trade-imbalance can result in higher freight rates for Sabah imports due to the return of empty containers, thus incurring costs.
Roselan said it was not surprising to see many trade associations screaming at the higher costs of doing business in Sabah and the relocation of the feed-mill plant from Gebeng to Sabah would really help the situation and reduce freight costs.
He said a Philippine research centre in Davao had discovered a hybrid corn that could produce good quality corn for animal feed in 92 days and due to the discovery, three cropping or harvesting a year was possible on the same plot of land.
Roselan said the discovery of the said hybrid and the growth of corn as well as the setting up of a feed-mill plant in Sabah can generate a symbiotic relationship.
