Egg shortage due to stock delay, longer holidays, says ministry

PUTRAJAYA: The sharp increase in purchases of eggs before, during and after the 2022 Chinese New Year holidays contributed to the current shortage, says Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry enforcement director Azman Adam.

He said in a statement that the shortage was also due to chicken and egg farms as well as delivery companies not operating during the Chinese New Year holiday period, while some even took holidays longer than the two days in conjunction with the festival.

According to him, these factors contributed to the delay in supply of eggs from farms to wholesalers and retailers in several places such as Terengganu, Negri Sembilan, Perlis and Sarawak.

"The ministry is confident that the supply of eggs will stabilise and be available at all localities in Malaysia once the egg farms and delivery companies resume operation soon," he said.

The media had previously reported that several states, such as Terengganu, had experienced shortage of eggs for the past month.

According to Azman, Malaysians consume 30 million chicken eggs a day or 930 million a month nationwide.

Based on production data from 50 chicken egg companies, which represent 80 per cent of egg production in Malaysia, a total of 839,281,658 eggs were produced in December 2021, while production for January 2022 was projected at 839,882,296 eggs.

He said that as of Thursday (Feb 3), the availability of eggs was recorded at 91 per cent nationwide and the percentage showed that supply was stable and able to meet current demand.

Azman advised consumers not to resort to panic buying or buy more than usual as the supply issue was isolated and would return to normal and stabilise after the Chinese New Year holidays.

He said the ministry had instructed all retailers to renew stock in their shops as well as contact wholesalers and manufacturers if supply fell to the re-order limit.

"The ministry has also instructed retailers to implement limited purchases to ensure more consumers could buy eggs," he said.- Bernama