Good news everyone! The price of the chickens has been reduced and will remain until June. Yes, you read that right.
The National Subsistence Action Council (NACCOL), chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, held a special meeting on the 31st of January 2021 and decided to reduce the maximum retail price for standard chicken by 20 sen from the current price of RM9.10, bringing it down to RM8.90 per kilogram.
Apart from chicken prices, Datuk Ismail stated that the price of chicken eggs will remain fixed as outlined in the current Malaysian Maximum Family Price Scheme (SHMKM) control list items.
“These two pricing will be in place from February 5, 2022, until June 5, 2022,” he stated.
Subsidies will be provided by the government in order to keep the price of commodities under control.
“We’ve also opened the entire chicken importation permission to all Approval Permit (AP) holders, as opposed to earlier when they could just import portions like wings, thighs, and so on,” he added, adding that hypermarket operators may now apply for APs to import chicken as well.
Ismail Sabri also urged the Malaysian Competition Commission (MYCC) to look into whether a cartel is involved in a chicken and egg price fixing arrangement.
He said the Malaysian Family Sales Programme (PJKM), which involves all 222 parliamentary constituencies across the country, needs to be resurrected with the help of different ministries.
He added that this will allow Malaysian families to purchase basic products at a lower cost.
Ismail Sabri also suggested that fair pricing stores be restored across the country, and that the frequency of farmers’ markets, or ‘pasar tani,’ be increased in phases.
The meeting also directed the Finance Ministry to investigate the effects of incentives and taxes on the transformation of poultry farms.
Agricultural industry cooperatives will now be directly involved in basic products management. There are no longer any middleman controlling the pricing of things. – Ismail Sabri
The following are the future plans that were decided at the meeting:
1) Support research by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) to develop oil palm fillet as a substitute for corn and soy in chicken feed.
2) Make a proposal to the state government to lengthen the time of land use for agricultural activities under a temporary occupation licence (TOL).
3) Food security is not just sufficient, but Malaysian families’ ability to purchase it is as well.
Source: NST/Astro Awani
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