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KUALA LUMPUR: The price of chicken eggs has dropped by 38% during the period of the movement control order (MCO), says Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee.
The market price of grade C eggs fell from 34 sen each in April to 21 sen in November this year, said in a written response to a question from Datuk Jalaluddin Alias (BN-Jelebu) on Dewan Rakyat the Tuesday (November 17). .
Jalauddin wanted to know if there was a drop in egg prices, which resulted in millions in losses for the poultry industry.
Kiandee said that when the MCO was implemented, the food sector had to limit operations, resulting in a drop in demand for eggs from restaurants, hotels and school canteens.
“However, egg production remained at the same level and this caused a glut, causing egg prices to fall,” he added.
He said that egg producers were also affected by rising chicken feed costs of between 4% and 5%, which is 70% of the producer price.
He cited examples where chicken feed such as corn increased to RM1,100 per tonne in November compared to RM955 per tonne in April, while soybean prices increased to RM2,100 per tonne compared to RM1,920. per ton during the same period.
Kiandee said her ministry was currently in talks with industry stakeholders to find short-term measures to ease its burden.
The government first implemented the MCO on March 18, which was extended to include the conditional MCO that will last until the end of this year.
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