Malaysia to ban export of four fish species and shrimp in Jan-Feb 2019

The Malaysian government has announced that it will prohibit the export of four species of wild-caught fish and shrimp to meet the shortage in the domestic market during the monsoon and festive seasons, a week after Putrajaya said that it was looking into limiting or stopping the export of eggs.

The “kembung” (mackerel), “selar” (trevally), “pelaling” (Indian mackerel) and “bawal” (pomfret) fish as well as shrimp will be banned from export from 1 January to 28 February next year, said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Salahuddin Ayub on Monday (17 December), according to a Bernama news agency report

Three associations will be entrusted with storing frozen fish and moving the supply throughout the country, said Salahuddin during a press conference at Parliament House.

“At present, frozen fish stocks amount to 400 tonnes at the three storage centres,” he added.

Last Monday, Malaysian Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the plan to limit or stop egg exports was to ensure a sufficient supply for the domestic market.

According to a New Straits Time report, Saifuddin said that egg prices had been rising every week for the past month. “We will study if stopping the export is reasonable or not, even if it is for a short term. If it helps to reduce the price of eggs and benefit the people, we will definitely look into it,” he added.

About 73 per cent of eggs in Singapore are from Malaysia with around a quarter being produced here, according to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA). Less than 1 per cent are imported from accredited farms in Thailand, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

AVA assured that Singapore has a wide range of alternative sources for eggs, including from its farms.

Source: YahooNews