January 19, 2010

Indonesia has rejected Malaysia's offer to export chickens as the former could still step up its poultry production to meet its domestic needs.

Indonesian Director General for Animal Husbandry, Tjeppy D Soedjana, said that the Malaysian offer was made when he met Malaysian Minister for Agriculture and Industry Moh Bin Omar on Thursday (Jan 14).

He said that based on Law No. 18 / 2009 on animal husbandry, imports should not be carried out if production at home is sufficient to meet domestic demands.

Soedjana said that production at home for day old chicks (DOC) reached 17 million per week. The production capacity is 40 million DOC per week, which means that production at home could still be increased.

So far, poultry markets were found mainly in big cities, particularly for live chickens, he said.