Fresh chickens from Malaysia selling fast despite higher prices

For the past four months, domestic helper Rowena Valdez had to use kampung chicken whenever she cooked chicken porridge or rice for her employer's family.

"They are usually smaller, have less meat and are more expensive than fresh chicken," said the 48-year-old. "My boss loves chicken rice, but she stopped eating it for a while in the last few months."

On Friday, Ms Valdez joined the crowd at a Toa Payoh market to buy fresh broiler chickens from Malaysia, after it lifted its export ban on these birds this week.

She bought an entire fresh chicken, intending to make chicken porridge later in the day. "A whole fresh chicken now costs around $16, but it is bigger and more worth it."

In contrast, a kampung chicken, which is typically smaller, would cost about $12.

Fresh Malaysian broiler chickens were available here on Thursday afternoon, for the first time in almost 4½ months after Malaysia banned exports due to a domestic shortage.

Broiler chickens are raised specifically for meat production and bred for optimal health and size.

The demand for such chickens on Friday was healthy, despite a 15 per cent to 35 per cent increase in prices, as compared with that before Malaysia's ban in June.

The Straits Times observed healthy crowds at poultry stalls in wet markets in Bedok, Ghim Moh, Serangoon and Toa Payoh, with hawkers expecting to their supply of fresh chickens to sell out.

Mr Vincent Liow, the co-owner of Ken & Vin Fresh Poultry in Ghim Moh Road Market and Food Centre, said most of his fresh chicken stock was used to fulfil pre-orders from his customers.

OK Chicken Rice's owner Daniel Tan said he is aiming to reduce the price of his chicken rice. This was despite his franchise of eight outlets having to pay almost 50 per cent more per chicken than before.

"I'm trying to bring it back below the $5 mark so that it remains affordable," said Mr Tan, who had increased the prices of his small and standard servings, which used to cost $3.50 and $4.50, by a dollar since June.

To celebrate the return of fresh chicken imports, Mr Tan said his franchise would be giving out free plates of chicken rice to elderly or needy customers.

"We've always been doing community service as we want to make sure that those who need it the most don't go hungry," he said, adding that he expects to give away around 2,000 plates of chicken rice.

But it was not all cheers for the poultry hawkers, as the higher-priced fresh chicken has lowered demand for other types of chicken, and cut into their profit margins.

Mr Peter Toh, a poultry seller at Ghim Moh market, said his profits may be impacted if his supply of fresh chickens is not increased in the longer term.

"I used to get 100 fresh chickens every day, which would cost $4.50 per kg. Selling them at $6 meant I had a profit margin of $1.50 for each kg I sold. Even though I sell it now for $8 per kg, it costs me $6.80 per kg, so my profit margin is lower."

He added that the demand for kampung chicken would likely drop with the return of fresh chicken.

"People buy it only when there's no fresh chicken, there were some who walked off today after I told them we were left with only kampung chicken parts," said Mr Toh.

Adding to the hawkers' dilemma is the fact that Singapore would get only about 1.8 million chickens per month, half the 3.6 million chickens imported before the ban.

Some consumers like Mr Kevin Ho may stop buying chicken if the prices remain high.

"I will start to monitor next week... If the prices don't come down, I would probably eat less chicken," said the 50-year-old, who is in the aviation industry.

• Additional reporting by Anjali Raguraman, Chin Hui Shan and Sarah Koh