From 11 October onwards, Malaysia will be lifting its chicken export ban, which has been in effect since 1 June.
This means that Singapore will be able to import live broiler chickens from Malaysia soon.
Reader: Does this mean that the chicken rice will finally be cheaper again?
SFA: Sure, But Sceptical
On Sunday (9 Oct), the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) received an official notification from Malaysia’ Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) about the lifting of the chicken export ban.
While SFA stated that it “welcomes” the resumption of the chicken imports, it asked the DVS for clarification on the details.
If the sudden chicken export ban has taught Singapore anything, it is that you should never put all of your eggs in one basket. The soaring price of chicken was not fun to deal with.
if you want to know more about what happened during the slight chicken crisis that Singapore went through, watch this video until the end:
Hence, the SFA will continue to accrue more sources of chicken to further diversify the supply chain, just in case there are any disruptions due to external factors.
The Woes of Chicken Importers
The local chicken importers were told in writing last Friday (7 Oct) about the dropping of the ban.
It has been a tough four months for them.
According to the head of business development at Kee Song Food, Mr James Lim, their sales have dropped by 50% to 70% during the ban.
That is not surprising, as Singapore used to import 34% of its chicken supply from Malaysia, almost all of which were live chickens that were brought in to be slaughtered and chilled.
Now that gap has been filled by imports from Thailand and the Philippines.
Although it has been said that the ban on live broiler chickens will be lifted from 11 October, the resumption of chicken imports is also dependent on how fast the exporters can obtain health certificates from DVS.
In any case, it’s good news that we can get chilled chickens from Malaysia again.
Featured Image: Dinoman / Shutterstock.com