SINGAPORE - 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 throngs of people at the Toa Payoh Lorong 1 market, and around the island, to buy fresh broiler chickens from Malaysia, after it lifted its export ban on these birds earlier this week.

She had 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.

Almost 4½ months after Malaysia banned the export due to a domestic shortage, the first batch of live Malaysian broiler chickens crossed the Causeway on Thursday morning, with supermarkets receiving the first batch of the fowls later in the afternoon.

Broiler chickens are raised specifically for meat production and bred for optimal health and size. This is the most common type found in supermarkets and makes up the biggest portion of Singapore's chicken imports from Malaysia. They are typically exported to Singapore at around 40 days old.

People flocked to wet markets and minimarts in the heartland on Friday to buy fresh entire chickens or chicken parts from Singapore's northern neighbour, despite a 15 per cent to 35 per cent increase in prices, as compared with that before Malaysia's ban in June. Malaysia had banned the export of its chickens in June due to a domestic shortage then.

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

Among them was a 75-year-old retired cook, who gave her name only as Ms Rose. She had stopped buying chickens during the ban because they were too expensive.

“But since they started selling fresh Malaysian chickens again, I’m buying chicken today for a special occasion. If not, I would have gone for pork instead,” she said.

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 already running out when ST visited at 8am, owing to pre-orders from his customers.

"The birds used to cost me around $4 per kg but now it's close to $7, so I've had to raise my price from $6 per kg to $8. But most of the fresh chicken and the parts are already gone," said the 47-year-old.

Mr Peter Toh, who runs a neighbouring stall in Ghim Moh market, said he received only about half the 100 chickens he ordered from his supplier on Friday.

"I had people coming to buy at 4am soon after I opened my stall. Most people coming today have chosen to buy only the fresh chicken or parts," said the 52-year-old.

A worker at the Tong Fong Fatt Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice stall in Ghim Moh market said it had about 60 fresh chickens for the day, and had already sold more than half their stock by 1pm.

"These have so much more meat, so it's more profitable for us to sell these as compared to when we had only the kampung chickens," added the worker.

With the return of fresh chickens, OK Chicken Rice's owner Daniel Tan said he is aiming to reduce the price of his chicken rice to under $5. This was despite his franchise of eight outlets having to pay almost 50 per cent more per chicken as compared to before the ban.

"I’m trying to bring it back below the $5 mark so that it remains affordable," said Mr Tan, who had increased the price 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, and those holding blue Chas cards.

“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 return of the higher-priced fresh chicken has resulted in lower demand for other types of chicken, and cuts into their profit margins.

Mr Toh 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 with the return of fresh chicken stocks, the demand for kampung chicken would likely drop.

"People buy it only when there's no fresh chicken, there were some who came today who walked off 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.

On top of that, 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