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In order to help alleviate the country's shortage of chicken eggs, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu announced that Malaysia will temporarily import chicken eggs.

In a Facebook post, he said this a stopgap measure to address the country's off-supply shortage until a long-term solution is decided, The Star reported.

Mohamad detailed that this is a short-term plan to meet the "supply needs in the country at an urgent rate to ensure the guarantee of chicken eggs in the market".

The average egg consumption for Malaysia is 968 million chicken eggs a month, he added.

Several foreign sources have been identified, and all eggs will go through checks to ensure the eggs are safe from diseases, as well as to make sure that protocols and procedures are obeyed.

Mohamad assured local suppliers that the eggs being brought by foreign sources are not meant to "suppress the entrepreneurs of the local chicken industry, but to ensure that the supply of chicken eggs in the country is not cut off and the welfare of the people is maintained."

The minister is confident that the issue will be resolved in the near future with the cooperation of various parties.

The need to import chicken eggs will also be reviewed once the supply has stabilised.

The ministry's general secretary has been tasked to look into the impact of importing chicken eggs on the existing industry. Agrobank, a Malaysian government-owned bank, will help local suppliers and small entrepreneurs remain competitive in the industry.

Mohamad reassures that the ministry is already working with various approaches to ensure a stable supply of chicken eggs and keep prices competitive.

According to Sinar Daily, there has been a shortage of eggs in the Malaysian markets in the last few months.

A trader in Kuala Lumpur told Malay Mail that his supply of eggs dropped from 35 trays a day to only 15 trays a day now.

The Federation of Livestock Farmers Associations of Malaysia deputy president Lee Yoon Yeau told The Star that the situation would not improve unless the government floated the prices of eggs that are currently regulated and leave it to market forces.

Local retailers attribute the shortage to poultry farmers cutting down on their production costs due to the increase in prices of maize and soya bean meals, the two main ingredients for chicken feed that the country mainly imports.

Top photo from Canva and Facebook