Despite the bird flu outbreak overseas, Malaysia’s chicken supply for its domestic market remains stable
"As for now Malaysia is not affected and the supply is recovering," said Mohamad Sabu, Malaysia’s agriculture and food security Minister.
“As for now, the supply is stable and we hope it will continue to stabilise,” he added.
His comments come in response to an Utusan Malaysia report which claimed that the country is expected to face a serious food security issue as the domestic chicken supply is predicted to shrink by 40% in June this year. This would be equivalent to a shortage of roughly 900,000 chickens per day in the domestic market.
European countries, as well as the US, have already begun to implement export restrictions on breeder chickens due to the bird flu epidemic. This could then affect the domestic supply of chickens in Malaysia.
Last year, nearly 50 million birds were culled in Europe due to the risks of bird flu. In France alone, which is the European Union's second-largest poultry producer, 22 million birds were culled.
