More supplies of chicken from multiple sources in coming weeks

Singapore can expect more supplies of chilled chicken from Australia and Thailand, as well as frozen chicken from sources such as Brazil and the United States in the coming weeks.

Giving this update yesterday, Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Desmond Tan said the country's chicken supply remains stable, despite Malaysia's export ban which began last Wednesday.

The Malaysian authorities had said the ban would be in place until production and chicken prices stabilise. Malaysia typically exports 3.6 million whole chickens each month. It faces a severe chicken shortage, mainly because of its dependence on imports of feed whose prices have surged in recent months.

Singapore imports about a third of its chickens, or more than two million birds monthly, from Malaysia.

In a Facebook post, Mr Tan said: "Rest assured, there is adequate supply of chicken for everyone if we continue to do our purchase normally."

C S Tay Foods, distributor of premium cage-free S Pure chilled chicken from Thailand, said it has secured a weekly supply of up to 75,000 packets of chicken parts, from the current 8,000 packets, if demand rises. This week, for instance, it will be importing 26,000 packets.

"Chilled chicken is airflown as the product has a shorter shelf life than frozen ones," said Mr Marc Tay, executive director of C S Tay Foods.

Checks by The Straits Times on May 31, a day before the export ban kicked in, showed that most Singaporeans did not buy more chicken to hoard. Most consumers were also willing to switch to frozen chicken alternatives.

Mr Tan said that he had visited a few supermarkets yesterday morning, and observed that they were well stocked with chicken - whole and parts, raw and ready-to-eat, frozen and processed, as well as some chilled.

He added that Singapore will continue to face disruptions to its food supplies from time to time.

For instance, the local egg supply contracted in February due to an outbreak of Newcastle disease at Seng Choon Farm, one of Singapore's three largest egg farms. This caused production to fall by 40 per cent to 50 per cent.

Singapore had to ramp up supplies from other sources, including Malaysia and Thailand, to continue to meet local demand.

The Russia-Ukraine war also crimped the supply of wheat globally as both nations account for a third of the world's supply.

Mr Tan added: "We may not fully mitigate these disruptions, but I'm confident that we can get through these occasional disruptions by working together closely."

Meanwhile, a senior Malaysian official said yesterday that the domestic chicken shortage is expected to be resolved in about a month's time. Supplies will be sufficient to meet demand by the time Hari Raya Haji arrives, Veterinary Services Department director-general Norlizan Mohd Noor was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Malaysia will celebrate Hari Raya Haji on July 10.

Apart from banning chicken exports, Malaysia has also removed the need for government permits to import chickens.

Mr Norlizan said industry players told the government the supply of chickens was influenced by several factors such as climate change that raised local temperatures, diseases and insufficient number of farm workers, Bernama reported.

He said nearly 80 per cent of local chicken breeders use open poultry houses, which expose the birds to hot weather and disease-carrying flies, while only a few have adopted the enclosed chicken coop system.