Price watch: Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry officers monitoring the selling price of chicken at Chowrasta market in George Town. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: The removal of the subsidy for chicken has not affected prices at wet markets, but consumers are expected to pay more when demand increases during festive seasons.
A check at several markets in the city found that chickens were sold at the usual price of RM9.40 per kg.
Chicken trader Mohd Nasir Abdul Kalam, 33, said so far, the supply was adequate for now.
“But the demand will increase in the weeks to come when it is near to Deepavali and Christmas.
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“And I’m worried I can’t sustain the same price then,” he said when met at Chowrasta Market here yesterday.
Mohd Nasir, who has been in the business for the past 10 years, said some of his customers had voiced their concerns on the price of chicken following the government’s announcement that it would remove the subsidy from Nov 1.
Another chicken trader, Mohd Jahubar MA Sultan, 52, said currently suppliers were selling chicken at RM8.10 per kg to traders in the market.
“At our retail price of RM9.40 per kg, we still can earn some profit and customers will not be burdened either,” he said.
He urged the relevant authorities to monitor and prevent “middlemen” from taking advantage of the removal of price controls and subsidies by raising chicken prices.
“When there was still a price control, we (traders) followed the ceiling price, but when suppliers increased their prices, we still had to sell it at the same price set by the government,” he said.
Mohd Jahubar welcomed the government’s latest move, saying that the lifting of the price control for chicken would bring a sigh of relief to traders and consumers as the supply and demand for chicken would be stabilised.
“This is a win-win situation for both traders and consumers.”
Meanwhile, chicken egg trader Mohamed Faizal Sideek Ali, 41, said prices have remained the same.
“For now, the supply is enough to last until the end of the year,” he said, adding that he hoped the government would lift the price control for eggs, too.
The maximum retail price of Grade A chicken eggs is set at 45 sen each, 43 sen for Grade B and 41 sen for Grade C in the peninsula while for Langkawi, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan, the maximum prices of chicken and eggs vary, depending on the zones and logistical costs.
