Carmelo Ferlito of the Center for Market Education said the government’s recent measures, including the RM8.90 per kg ceiling price and an export ban on chicken, were a “recipe” for inflation and could endanger food security.

Recently, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced an export ban on chicken from June 1. Malaysia exports around 3.6 million chickens a month.

Ferlito said Putrajaya’s measures also showed that the government had failed to recognise the main party responsible for the high prices and the chicken shortage.

“It is the government itself. In fact, supply chain disruptions were caused by lockdowns,” he said in a statement, adding that this had led to higher prices.

He said the reopening of the economy had also led to demand for chicken going up, and that the rise in prices acted as a “signal” to producers to increase supply.

“If the market is allowed to work, price tensions will be resolved quicker, as the supply (side) can recognise and exploit profit opportunities. And with the scaling up of supply, prices can finally cool down,” he said.

If this did not happen, then prices would rise again when the ceiling price was removed.

Ferlito said that at the moment, producers were not motivated to increase supply because their profit margins were limited by the ceiling price.

If the situation continued, he said, it could even lead to producers closing shop, leading to unemployment.