Inflation task force told to hatch plan on egg supply

The Jihad Against Inflation Task Force has been urged to increase the subsidies for egg producers to address an ongoing egg shortage.

Bayan Lepas MP Sim Tze Tzin said poultry farmers are making a loss of three sen per egg on average, leading farmers to reduce output to cut their losses.

This, warned Sim, would threaten the country’s protein supply.

"I urge the cabinet ministers in the Jihad Against Inflation Task Force to stop thinking about the election only and convene a meeting with stakeholders to find a solution.

"There are 32 million Malaysians who eat eggs daily and they are observing the performance (of the ministers)," the former deputy agriculture minister told reporters in Parliament today, with two empty egg trays in tow.

Putrajaya raised the ceiling prices of eggs on July 1 in view of the rising cost of chicken feed.

However, poultry farmers had complained that the new ceiling prices still caused them to operate at a loss.

Interest groups representing livestock farms claimed that many poultry farmers were forced out of the business due to the ceiling prices.

Sim said his own survey indicated that egg supply was down by 60 percent and is often sold out even before lunchtime.

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