KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry has given the assurance that egg prices will stabilise and sufficient supply will be available this festive season.
Its minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub said the egg distributors have agreed to reduce prices by two sen at farm level, for the various grades of eggs.
He added that the recent three per cent drop in egg supply was not due to infection caused by H5 and H7 influenza viruses (bird flu) but because common illnesses had hit some of the farms especially in Peninsular Malaysia.
”Chicken farms which experienced high fatality rate earlier are not allowed to sell their eggs until investigations are over and laboratory findings confirm there were no illnesses.
“The situation caused a 3 per cent reduction in egg supply, but investigations found that the chicken farms were free from bird flu infection,” he told reporters here today.
He said with the Ringgit weakening against US dollar in November, cost of imported feedstock also went up resulting in increased costs of egg production, adding that this led to rise in prices by five per cent.
He said investigations carried out by the Department of Veterinary Services found there was a 2 sen increase in price of Grade C eggs at farm level from 38 sen on Nov 28, to 40 sen on Dec 4. — Bernama
