PUTRAJAYA, July 19 — The monitoring of current chicken prices by the Enforcement Division of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) found that the retail prices of standard chicken has started to show a downward trend in public markets and supermarkets from July 1 to 17.
KPDNHEP enforcement director Datuk Iskandar Halim Sulaiman, in his statement today, said the trend was in line with the decline in live farm chicken prices in the second week of July of between RM4.50/kg and RM5.40/kg from the first week, namely, RM5.20/kg to RM6.10/kg.
“The standard chicken price in (the first week of) July 2020 is between RM8.00/kg and RM8.50/kg and has decreased in the second week with a price of RM7.60/kg to RM7.90/kg,” he added.
Iskandar Halim said KPDNHEP would continue to monitor the current supply and prices of chicken in the market so that consumers could obtain chicken at an affordable price.
He added that KPDNHEP has carried out an inspection of chicken price increases following complaints from the public on June 15.
Iskandar Halim explained that monitoring was carried out under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act (AKHAP) 2011 to identify the supply chain levels that initiated the cause of rising chicken prices and to detect if there were profiteering activities.
A total of eight investigation papers had been opened on poultry traders suspected of committing profiteering in inspections carried out from June 17 to 30, he added.
“All the investigation papers are under further investigations to complete the documents before referring them to the KPDNHEP deputy public prosecutor,” he added.
Iskandar Halim explained that these eight cases involved four retailers in the Melaka public market and four chicken wholesalers, one in Melaka and the other three in Kuala Lumpur.
All the cases were being investigated under Section 14 (1) of AKHAP, he added. — Bernama
