KOTA KINABALU: There is more than enough supply of fresh chicken to meet the demand for the two-day Pesta Kaamatan celebrations beginning today, say enforcement officials.Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry officers monitoring the fresh chicken supply situation in the state said that based on checks with retailers and wholesalers, supplies of fresh chicken were easily available at major markets, supermarkets and grocery stores.
Inspection and monitoring of chicken supply including other basic necessities were done on a daily basis by the ministry’s personnel, its state director Georgie Abas said yesterday.
He said fresh chickens were being sold at reasonable prices and there was no need for consumers to resort to panic buying.
For Sabah, he said local poultry farmers and suppliers were still able to meet the supply in the local markets unlike the situation in Peninsular Malaysia.
Georgie added that an average of 100 to 300 fresh chickens were being supplied to major supermarkets in the state daily.
“There are 19 major broiler farmers that can produce as many as three million chickens a month,” he said, adding that there was an average supply of 100,000 chickens daily in the market.
Given the increasing demand for chicken wings during the festive season in Sabah, he said the state government had listed chicken wings as a controlled price item under the Kaamatan Festival Maximum Price Scheme from May 27 to June 2.
Georgie also said that the state government was enforcing the Maximum Price Determination for Poultry and Chicken Eggs (PHMAT) from Feb 5 to June 5.
He said 58 cases had been lodged against traders in the state for failing to comply with PHMAT since Feb 5.
Three of the offenders were caught selling controlled items above the maximum price set, 51 cases involved failure to use a special pink price tag and four other cases involved traders failing to display prices.
Georgie also said that enforcement officers seized RM11,949 worth of goods while offenders were issued compound notices totalling RM9,200.
