Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Officials in Indonesia want to negotiate an agreement with Singapore to begin exporting chickens in the c...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Officials in Indonesia want to negotiate an agreement with Singapore to begin exporting chickens in the coming weeks, as the city-state scrambles to find alternate supply sources after another neighbour, Malaysia, imposed restrictions on sales.
Malaysia has banned chicken exports until local output and rising costs stabilise, in yet another indicator of worsening global food shortages and supply chain concerns.
Restaurants and street stalls in Singapore raised pricing of chicken rice, the country's de-facto national dish, as a result of the change.
Susiwijono Moegiarso, a senior official at Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs, said the government has held "technical negotiations" with Singapore and aimed to begin shipments this month.
In a statement, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said it was "working closely" with Indonesian officials on the country's certification as a prospective source of chicken imports.
With over 270 million inhabitants, Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest and most populated country, currently has a surplus in chicken production.
According to Achmad Dawami, chairman of the Indonesian Poultry Breeders' Association, Indonesia produces 55 million to 60 million chickens every week, with a surplus of 15 percent to 20% after domestic consumption.
Exports to Singapore, which has a monthly demand of 3.6 million to 4 million birds, might help bridge the gap, according to Dawami.
Singapore needed to purchase live chickens to keep their domestic slaughterhouses running, according to Dawami, who added that Indonesian producers preferred to export butchered chicken because they lacked experience shipping live poultry.
"Hopefully there will be realisation within the next two weeks; if we have to wait months, we will lose momentum," Dawami remarked.
Last Monday, Malaysia lifted a portion of its export prohibition on some premium chickens.
However, a restriction on the export of commercial broiler chicken, which accounts for the majority of Singapore's chicken imports from Malaysia, as well as other types of chicken products, will remain in place.
Chicken prices have risen sharply in recent months, owing to a global feed scarcity aggravated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has disrupted production.
