As Malaysia bans chicken exports, Singapore’s de facto national dish is caught in the middle.
KUALA LUMPUR/SINGAPORE-Singapore is getting ready for a shortage of chicken rice, which is considered the country’s national dish. This is because Malaysia, a major supplier, will stop all chicken exports on Wednesday.
Restaurants and street vendors in the city-state have to decide whether to raise the price of a staple food or close down because their supplies are running out from neighboring Malaysia, where production has been slowed down because of a global feed shortage.
Malaysia’s export ban is the latest sign that food shortages are getting worse around the world. This is because countries are scrambling to make up for supply problems caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, extreme weather, and pandemics, and to keep food prices down. (Click here for a graphic that you can play with: https://tmsnrt.rs/3wZqRBV)
Countries like Argentina, Indonesia, Greece, and Iran have already had protests because of rising prices for food that people need to live. [L5N2XA3U7]
Malaysia’s ban on chicken rice, which owns OK Chicken Rice, a chain of seven stalls, said that the ban will be “catastrophic” for vendors like him.
“Because of the ban, we would no longer be able to sell. “It’s like McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) without any burgers,” “he said.
He also said that his stalls usually get live birds from Malaysia, but they will have to switch to using frozen chicken within a week. They are expecting a “strong hit to sales” as customers react to the change in the quality of the dish.
Singapore is one of the richest countries in Asia, but its land area is only 730 square kilometers (280 square miles), and most of its food, energy, and other goods come from other countries. Almost all of its chicken comes from other countries. The Singapore Food Agency says that 34% of its chicken comes from Malaysia, 49% from Brazil, and 12% from the United States (SFA).
The country’s 5.5 million people love a simple dish of poached chicken, white rice cooked in broth, and greens, which can be found for about S$4 ($2.92) at restaurants called “hawker centers.”
The SFA has said that the shortage can be made up with frozen chicken from Brazil and has urged people to choose other sources of protein, like fish.
Malaysia, which is also seeing prices go up, has decided to stop exporting chicken until prices and production in the country stabilize.
Since February, prices have been capped at 8.90 ringgit ($2.03) per bird, and poultry farmers have been given a subsidy of 729.43 million ringgit ($166 million).
Malaysia imports grain and soybeans, which are used in most chicken feed. But because of a shortage of feed around the world, the government has to think of other options.
Syaizul Abdullah Syamil Zulkaffly, a poultry farmer, said that because the feed isn’t as good, the birds aren’t growing as fast as usual, which slows down the whole supply chain.
Before, Syaizul’s farm of broiler chickens could be harvested up to seven times a year, and each time, 45,000 birds could be taken. This year, he only plans to harvest five times.
During the pandemic, Syaizul started to feel the effects of higher operating costs. He says that the export ban will only make things worse for poultry farmers.
He said he doesn’t know if this industry can support him “for the next five or ten years,” He added that he’s had to go into debt to keep up with costs.
“Maybe I should go work at a gas station or somewhere else that’s even better and less stressful than running a chicken farm.”
(1 Singapore dollar = 1.3713 Singapore dollars)
(1 USD = 4.3770 ringgit)
