This piece of news probably won’t crack you up.
Especially if you love eggs since this might concern our egg supply.
Johor’s State Agriculture, Agro-Based Industry and Rural Development Committee chairperson Datuk Zhari Sarip has suggested restricting the export of eggs to Singapore and other states in order to overcome the current egg shortage.
Egg Shortage in Malaysia
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Malaysia has been suffering from a shortage of chickens and eggs.
The egg shortage is mainly due to poultry farms cutting down on production. Due to climate change, it has been difficult to produce maize and soya beans, causing the price of the two key ingredients of chicken feed to increase.
The solution to this problem has been a tough one to crack.
Earlier this year in June, the Malaysian government had banned the export of up to 3.6 million chickens to Singapore in order to tackle the shortage.
While the ban was lifted in October 2022, Malaysia will temporarily import chicken eggs as they find a long-term solution to this problem.
Reason Behind the Suggestion
Johor is one of the biggest egg producers in Malaysia.
Zahari has pointed out that the inadequate supply of eggs produced by Johor could be due to the increased demand for eggs from other states.
He commented that exports to Singapore could also be a significant factor.
In order to mitigate the shortage, he believes that restricting egg exports and supplies may help solve the issue.
Previously in June, the ban on chicken exports helped overcome the shortage of chickens in Malaysia.
How Would this Affect Singapore?
As Singapore’s biggest chicken egg exporter, restricting exports to Singapore would definitely affect some of our egg supplies in the short term.
In addition, this move can be concerning in light of Singapore’s lack of natural resources and farming land. Did you know that we import 90% of our food?
However, the number of eggs Singapore imports from Malaysia has dwindled over the years, falling from 72% in 2019 to 59% in 2020 and 52% in 2021.
In addition, in an effort to diversify food sources, Singapore has recently accredited Brunei as our 17th egg exporter.
Perhaps the more pressing question should be how this move could affect Malaysia.
When Malaysia banned the export of eggs temporarily during COVID-19 in order to meet local demand, it was found that Singapore had reduced its imports by half after the ban was lifted.
This caused a surplus of eggs in Malaysia, which isn’t a good thing either.
Should the export of eggs to Singapore be restricted, will history repeat itself?
Despite Zahari’s suggestion, the state government cannot implement such restrictions, since egg exports fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
The state government will meet Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu next week to discuss the egg shortage.