Singapore Braces as Malaysian Chicken Export Ban Comes Into Effect – The Diplomat

ASEAN Beat | Financial system | Southeast Asia

Yesterday, I wrote a brief article in regards to the proposed formation of a rice export cartel between Thailand and Vietnam, which I described as simply the newest signal of a flip towards protectionism and market interventions within the context of hovering international meals costs.

Right now introduced one other instance of this development, with Malaysia starting a ban on the export of dwell chickens, to bolster home provides and maintain down surging costs.

Final week, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob introduced that the nation would halt exports of three.6 million chickens a month from June 1. Ismail Sabri added that the Malaysia Competitors Fee can even open investigations into experiences that there are cartels that management the worth and output of hen amongst giant corporations.

He mentioned that the ban could be in place “till home costs and manufacturing stabilize,” including, “The federal government’s precedence is our personal individuals.”

In latest weeks, Malaysia, which imports round 60 % of its meals wants, has seen rising meals costs on account of rising international commodity costs and a weakening ringgit. Based on Malaysian farmers, the rising costs of hen are the results of the rising price of hen feed, which is in flip related to a grain scarcity attributable to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Consequently, some retailers have needed to resort to rationing the gross sales of hen.

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The export ban is prone to have an effect on a variety of Asian nations, however none as a lot as import-dependent Singapore, which final 12 months sourced about 34 % of its hen from Malaysia. Virtually all of those imports had been dwell chickens that had been slaughtered and chilled in Singapore. The Straits Occasions cited hen sellers as saying that the price of uncooked hen may rise by as much as 30 %, sending the worth of the city-state’s toothsome hen rice dish spiraling upward.

Yesterday, a day forward of the ban, Channel Information Asia noticed lengthy queues at hawker facilities throughout the city-state yesterday, whereas the approaching scarcity has prompted the COVID-19-style panic-buying of hen from moist markets and supermarkets.

In addition to signifying the rising international flip towards protectionism, which additionally included a short lived Indonesian palm oil export ban and Indian restrictions on sugar and wheat exports, the hen export ban highlights Singapore’s vulnerabilities to disruptions within the international meals provide. On account of its dearth of arable land, the overwhelming majority of the nation’s meals – north of 90 %, in response to the Singapore Meals Company (SFA) – is imported, leaving it uncovered to exterior shocks.

After Malaysia introduced the export restrictions final week, the SFA mentioned it was working to attenuate the impression on provide by tapping different sources of imports. Based on SFA information cited by Channel Information Asia, different main sources of hen for Singapore embody Brazil (49 %) and the US (12 %). “Whereas there could also be non permanent disruptions to the provision of chilled hen, frozen hen choices stay out there to mitigate the shortfall,” the SFA mentioned.

Singapore’s competent authorities could be anticipated to make sure that the general impression on its residents will seemingly be considered one of inconvenience reasonably than outright disaster. However as the worldwide financial disaster worsens, the political impression in different nations is prone to be extra extreme.