ALOR STAR: The Consumers Association of Kedah (Cake) has expressed concern on the government's decision to withdraw subsidies and price controls on chicken as it would lead towards a price hike of food, piling more burden on low income earners.
Its president Mohamad Yusrizal Yusoff lamented the move as being too drastic and lacking proper preparation in ensuring stability in the retail price of chicken.
"Consumers are worried that once the retail price of chicken is offloaded, chances are that the price will increase, either abruptly or bit by bit.
"There are risks that some breeders and wholesalers will take advantage on the situation to hike up the price," he told the New Straits Times when contacted.
Yusrizal also questioned the timing of the subsidies and price control removal for chicken.
"Firstly, the price will be uploaded less than two weeks before the Deepavali festival, followed by the long school break in December.
"We all are aware that the demand for chicken as the main source of protein for Malaysians will increase during the festive period and the school break when people usually hold wedding receptions.
'Cake is are worried that this will lead towards a price hike of food and this will have a direct impact on the B40 group which are depending on chicken as their main source of protein," he said.
As such, Cake called for the government to strictly impose a Price Control Act to stabilise the chicken retail price once its price is offloaded.
Yusrizal added that Cake has been getting a lot of complaints from eatery operators and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that the purchasing power of consumers has been declining since the recent hike in prices of imported rice.
"Should there is a significant and sudden price hike of chicken, the small traders and SME players will likely increase the price of their products.
"Consumers who don't have time to cook at home will likely be burdened and forced to further trim their expenses," he said.
He was commenting on Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu's announcement earlier today that subsidies and price controls for chicken would be discontinued from Nov 1.
The government however, has decided to retain subsidies for chicken eggs for now. The retail ceiling price for grade A eggs is 45 sen each, grade B (43 sen) and grade C (41 sen).
Mohamad was reported as saying that the decision was made decided after taking into consideration the current supply and price trends, and the cost of chicken production has begun to stabilise, contributing to the current market prices being below the ceiling price of RM9.40 per kg set by the government.
He added that the government has spent RM3.8 billion for egg and chicken subsidies since February last year.
When presenting 2024 Budget on Oct 13, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the government was considering floating the price of chicken and eggs as the supply of both items were now stable.
