SINGAPORE - For months after Malaysia banned the export of its fresh broiler chicken in June, Madam Leo had to resort to using two kampung chickens whenever she made chicken rice at home.
"The flavour is okay but it is very small, so I have to use two birds. If not, there isn't enough to eat," said the 64-year-old, who did not want to give her full name.
The housewife excitedly picked up a fresh whole broiler chicken on Thursday afternoon at FairPrice's YewTee Point outlet.
"Even though the fresh chicken is more expensive than before, there's a lot more meat on it," said Madam Leo.
Fresh Malaysian broiler chickens returned to retailers' shelves here on Thursday afternoon, almost 4½ months after Malaysia banned its export due to a domestic shortage. At the time, about a third of Singapore's chicken came from Malaysia.
Broiler chickens are raised specifically for meat production and bred for optimal health and size. This is the most common type found in supermarkets and makes up the biggest portion of Singapore's chicken imports from Malaysia. They are typically exported to Singapore at around 40 days old.
The Sakura Fresh Chickens, which are sold by food distributor Kee Song Food, were stocked at the Yew Tee FairPrice outlet at around 3pm, with each bird costing $14.80 and weighing around 1.3kg to 1.5kg.
In comparison, kampung chickens, which were also on sale at the outlet, cost $10.70 and weighed around 900g.
Singapore is expected to receive about 1.8 million chickens a month from Malaysia, half of the 3.6 million birds per month quota before the ban.
The limited supply was evident on Thursday - checks on FairPrice's app showed that the fresh Malaysian chickens were in low supply across at least 10 of its outlets islandwide.
At the Yew Tee outlet, a worker - who spoke on condition of anonymity because she is not authorised to speak to the media - said the outlet's supply of 15 birds was to last two days.
"We used to get around 10 birds every day, sometimes a bit more on the weekend. But these 15 are the amount we have been allotted from today to Friday," said the worker.
Sales of the chicken were slow initially, with The Straits Times observing that only about 10 people browsed the fresh chicken shelves in the hour after they were stocked up, with no one besides Madam Leo buying a whole bird.
Another consumer in his 60s, who wants to be known only as Mr Lee, baulked at the price of the fresh chicken.
"Each bird used to cost around $10, so it's a lot more expensive," said Mr Lee. "I used to buy a mix of fresh and frozen chicken, and I'll stick to frozen chicken now because it's much cheaper."
Over at Bukit Timah Plaza, a worker at the FairPrice Finest outlet there said it had also received a batch of 15 fresh broiler chickens some time in the middle of the afternoon. By 7.30pm, the birds had been all snapped up.
“It was very busy for me today because a lot of customers came to me for help to cut their fresh chicken into parts. I hope that we will get more fresh chickens delivered tomorrow since we are all sold out today,” she said, adding that she was unsure how many chickens the outlet used to receive before the ban.
While ST understands that the fresh Malaysian chickens are expected to be available at the wet markets from Friday morning, one poultry seller at the Yew Tee wet market was unfazed by its return.
Mr Goh Toh Wee, who has been in the poultry business for around 30 years, said his customers have got used to his supply of frozen and kampung chickens after the ban in June. None has told him that they are waiting for the fresh chicken to return.
The 57-year-old is also unclear about the supply of fresh chickens he would get, and how profitable they would be.
Mr Goh's supplier had told him that he would get around 2,000 fresh chickens, a big drop from the 5,000 before the ban.
"I will have to see how many I can get tonight, but it's hard for us to get a good price for the birds and turn a profit. Whatever the supermarkets are selling them for is probably the price I will have to pay for them," said Mr Goh.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...sale-in-singapore-after-more-than-four-months
