Malaysia - Poultry industry lost RM1.5bil

The poultry industry lost RM1.5bil in two months due to the bird flu scare, which caused chicken prices to plunge. Federation of Livestock Farmers Associations Malaysia broiler unit head Yap Kim Hwah said bird flu cases reported in Selangor, Perak and Penang in March caused sales of chicken to drop by between 20% and 30%. “Chicken farmers incurred huge losses and some did not even have money to buy feed or rear new chicks,” Yap said. There are about 6,000 chicken farmers in the country. In March, the ex-farm price of chicken dropped from its ceiling price of RM4 a kilo to between RM1.80 and RM2.20, which was below the farm cost of RM3.20 a kilo. The price climbed to RM3.20 a kilo last week due to a rise in demand. The federation adjusted the price to RM3.50 a kilo from Wednesday. Ti Bon Poy, head of the broiler unit in the Malacca branch of the federation, said consumers now had more confidence about eating chicken, causing demand to surge. Asked whether the high price of pork had forced consumers to switch to chicken, Ti said the increase would not have been very significant. Ti estimated that sales of chicken would increase by about 10% during the coming dumpling festival. There have been calls to use chicken instead of pork for bak chang (meat dumpling) due to the current high pork prices.