Malaysia plans to reduce its reliance on imported chicken feed due to its high cost as it hopes to reduce the price of meat for its local consumers. Chicken meat is the most popular meat consumed by Malaysians as it was known to be affordable across a broad spectrum of consumers. However, due to recent inflationary pressure, price of chicken meat has increased rapidly and the government is actively monitoring the trend.
Currently, there are plans to substitute imported feed with ‘kampung chicken’ feed brand ALMA, developed in August locally by FGV Integrated Farming Sdn Bhd (FGVIF). It is now exploring Perak provincial market utilising the existing distribution network. FGV Holdings Berhad (FGV) Group CEO Datuk Mohd Nazrul Izam Mansor said the move was possible through the cooperation of strategic partners such as FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority), Felda Capital Cooperative (KPF) and Padiberas Nasional Berhad (BERNAS). He said, “FGVIF is actively expanding its distribution network to ensure that ALMA products are easily available in the Perak market as well as the rest of the country.”
According to latest report, ALMA will penetrate the existing market starting with the location closest to the kampung chicken feed processing factory located in Muar, Johor before entering Perak and other provinces (states) in Malaysia.
ALMA is still in the early stages of entering the chicken feed market where many players comprise of ‘integrators’. FGVIF is currently not an ‘integrator’ however, it is making efforts towards that direction. ALMA motto is to ‘produce high quality products but at a reasonable price’.
ALMA kampung chicken feed is formulated by FGVIF with collaboration from BERNAS using by-products from rice. This is in line with the country’s National Food Security Agenda using local raw materials and reducing dependence on imported raw materials like corn and soybean. This initiative is expected to reduce production costs by 10%.
Currently, Malaysia produces about 8 million chickens annually and almost 10% of it is exported to Singapore, while the rest is distributed in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang.
Exports of kampung chicken to resume in October
In a related development, the ban on exports of Malaysian chicken might be lifted soon in October. However, it will come with caveats.
Malaysia can cut supply again in the event of domestic supply shortage. In addition, only selected farms are allowed to export, however some importers prefer to get their supplies from the same source that they worked with before the ban.
In Singapore, some business owners especially from the food service segment welcome the move as they claimed that the fresh ‘kampung chicken’ from Malaysia, despite being cheaper than frozen chicken, has a unique flavorful taste which other suppliers, even from Indonesia, cannot emulate.
