KUCHING: There is so far no panic buying of chicken eggs in the city following reports of the shortage of chicken eggs in Sarawak.
A check by New Sarawak Tribune at several local supermarkets found that the situation here was still under control.
According to a supermarket staff who preferred to remain anonymous, just before the Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration, many members of the public had thronged the outlet to buy eggs and other goods.
“There was one customer who bought 10 trays of eggs at one time,” she said.
At the moment, there were still several trays of eggs left, she said, adding that the supermarket was waiting for new supplies to arrive.
On Feb 4, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) Sarawak director Datuk Stanley Tan said that the ministry had taken the necessary initial action to identify the cause and find the best mechanism to address the issue of lack of supply of chicken eggs in Sarawak.
There are 10 poultry farms in the state that produced 80 percent or an estimated 1,540,000 chicken eggs a day in early February 2022.
Tan said that, however, there had been a sharp increase in the demand for chicken eggs before and during the CNY festive season.
He added that poultry farms and delivery logistics companies were not operating during the CNY holiday. This had contributed to the delay in supplying eggs from farms to wholesalers and retailers in several places in Sarawak.
“The ministry is confident that supply of eggs will be stable and sufficient for Sarawak when poultry farms and delivery logistics companies resume operations soon,” said Tan.
From last month until early this month, Miri and Lawas experienced shortages of chicken eggs.
On Jan 22, KPDNHEP Miri stated that the reduction in chicken egg supply was partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and imposition of the movement control order before this.
Meanwhile, KPDNHEP Sarawak Control Unit on Jan 29 reported that 1,601,324 eggs were produced on that date.
Total production in Kuching is 785,304 eggs, Sibu 710,000, Miri 96,000, Sarikei 5,520 and Lawas 4,500.
For the record, the retail ceiling price for a Grade A egg under the CNY price control scheme from Jan 1 to Feb 4 is 45 sen, while for Grade B, it is 43 sen. For Grade C, it is 41 sen.
