SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Indonesia will start exporting chicken to Singapore this week, its agriculture ministry said, with the aim to plug an ongoing shortage in the city-state following a ban on exports from key supplier, Malaysia.
The first shipment of 50 tonnes of frozen chicken, valued at 2 billion Indonesian rupiah ($133,467), was due to leave for Singapore on July 15, according to a statement by the Indonesian agriculture ministry.
Poultry company Charoen Pokhpand Indonesia expects to deliver a total of 1,000 tonnes of chicken meat to Singapore by the end of this year, and will increase supply according to demand, it said in a separate statement.
Malaysia, which supplies a third of Singapore’s chicken, had halted exports of the birds early last month after global feed shortages disrupted local production and prices.
The move had a knock-on impact in Singapore with restaurants and street stalls hiking prices of its de-facto national dish, chicken rice.
The ban has been partially lifted on certain premium chickens, but remains in place on commercial broiler chicken – which makes up the majority of Singapore’s chicken imports from Malaysia – and other types of chicken products.
Indonesia produces 55 to 60 million birds per week, with a surplus of around 15% to 20% after domestic consumption, Achmad Dawami, the chairman of the Indonesian Poultry Breeders’ Association told Reuters.
($1 = 14,985.0000 rupiah)
(Reporting by Chen Lin in Singapore and Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
