Fresh Malaysian broiler chickens returned to retailers' shelves here on Oct 13.- ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): For months after Malaysia banned the export of its fresh broiler chicken in June, Leo had to resort to using two kampung chickens whenever she made chicken rice at home.
"The flavour is okay but it is very small, so I have to use two birds. If not, there isn't enough to eat," the 64-year-old said.
The homemaker's face lit up on Thursday afternoon and she excitedly picked up a fresh whole broiler chicken at the NTUC Fairprice's YewTee Point outlet.
"Even though the fresh chicken is more expensive than before, there's a lot more meat on it," Leo said.
Fresh Malaysian broiler chickens returned to retailers' shelves here on Thursday (Oct 13) afternoon, almost four and a half months after Malaysia banned its export due to a domestic shortage. At the time, about a third of Singapore's chicken came from Malaysia.
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.
The Sakura Fresh Chickens, which are sold by food distributors Kee Song Food, were stocked at the Yew Tee outlet at around 3pm, with each bird costing S$14.80 and weighing around 1.3 to 1.5kg.
Singapore is expected to receive about 1.8 million chickens a month from Malaysia, half the 3.6 million birds per month quota before the ban.
The limited supply was evident on Thursday - checks on Fairprice's app showed that the fresh Malaysian chickens were in low supply across at least 10 of its outlets islandwide.
At the Yew Tee outlet, a worker - who spoke on condition of anonymity because she is not authorised to speak to the media - said the outlet's supply of 15 birds was to last two days.
"We used to get around 10 birds every day, sometimes a bit more on the weekend. But these 15 are the amount we have been allotted from today to Friday," said the worker.
Sales of the chicken were slow at the start, with ST observing that only about 10 people browsing the fresh chicken shelves in an hour after they were stocked up, with none picking up any.
One consumer in his 60s, who wants to be known only as Lee, baulked at the price of the fresh chicken.
"Each bird used to cost around $10, so it's a lot more expensive," said Lee. "I used to buy a mix of fresh and frozen chicken and I'll stick to frozen chicken now because it's much cheaper."
While ST understands that the fresh Malaysian chickens are expected to be available at the wet markets from Friday morning, one poultry seller at the Yew Tee wet market was unfazed by its return.
Goh Toh Wee, who has been in the poultry business for around 30 years, said his customers have gotten used to his supply of frozen and kampung chicken after the ban in June, and none have told him that they are waiting for the fresh chicken to return.
Besides, the 57-year-old is unclear about the supply of fresh chicken he would get, and how profitable they would be.
Goh's supplier had told him that he would get around 2,000 fresh chicken, a big drop from the 5,000 before the ban.
Goh said: "I will have to see how many I can get tonight, but it's hard for us to get a good price for the birds and turn a profit. Whatever the supermarkets are selling them for, is probably the price I will have to pay for them."
