PUTRAJAYA, April 30 — The decision to roll back subsidy for eggs was made after the supply chain showed signs of normalising since years of Covid-19 lockdowns disrupted production, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said today.

“In the previous Cabinet meeting, ministers were reminded that egg prices were only subsidised during the pandemic that caused problems to supply,” he told reporters at today’s post-cabinet meeting here.

“So we decided since supply and stock have shown a positive trend, the cabinet decided not only rolling back would save cost, but also considering supply now have surpassed demand,” the minister added.

Earlier, the government said it has decided to fully discontinue the egg subsidy starting this August 1.

In a statement, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security announced that price controls on eggs will be lifted, and the subsidy will be reduced from RM0.10 to RM0.05 per egg effective tomorrow, before being fully withdrawn in August.

The decision was made after considering the industry’s commitment to ensuring sufficient and stable egg production, following stabilised production costs.

He said the country has spent more than RM3 billion since February 2022 in subsidies for chicken and chicken eggs.

The subsidy for chicken was terminated on November 2023, following which, the supply and price of chicken became more stable.