In a Parliamentary written reply, the Agriculture and Food Security Minister said the issue involving shortages in the supply of eggs in the local market took place when there was a reduction in production from October to December last year.
He added that the move was a short-term measure by the ministry, as it allowed the import of fresh white eggs from India, weighing between 50 to 55g."The company was given the permission to import eggs from India based on their experience in exporting eggs from India to Qatar to fulfil the demand during the 2022 World Cup," he said.
Mohamad said this in reply to a question from Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan , who asked the government to reveal which companies had approved permits to import eggs from India and the duration of the permits. He said that a total of 13.4 billion eggs were produced in 2018, followed by 10.9 billion in 2019, 12.9 billion in 2020, 13.6 billion in 2021 and 13.3 billion in 2022.“On average, Malaysia needs 11.6 billion eggs per year to meet domestic demand, with an average consumption of 968 million eggs monthly,” he said.
“The production record clearly shows it is sufficient for domestic needs every year and there is a surplus for Malaysia to export," added Mohamad.