KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 17): Bird's nest processor MYMBN Bhd (KL:MBN) said on Friday that the Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia has lifted the temporary suspension of exports of both raw-cleaned edible bird’s nest (RCEBN) and raw-uncleaned edible bird’s nest (RUCEBN) products to China after nearly one month. This is expected to bring major relief to MYMBN, given that China is a primary market for the group.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Friday, the ACE Market-listed MYMBN said the department has issued a press notice for the resumption of exports for both RCEBN and RUCEBN products to China.
MYMBN had on Dec 25, 2024 received a notice from the department for the temporary suspension, after the Newcastle disease virus was detected among poultry, aviary and wild birds in Malaysia, as reported by the World Organisation for Animal Health. The suspension was applied to the whole industry for both RCEBN and RUCEBN products.
Shares of MYMBN fell to a low of 12 sen on Dec 27, which was below its initial public offering price of 21 sen, following the temporary suspension. The counter closed down one sen or 7.41% at 12.5 sen on Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM49.97 million. Its share price has fallen 34.21% over the past one year.
MYMBN earlier announced that the temporary suspension had caused disruption to its operations and affected its supply chain and revenue streams tied to the Chinese market, as China is one of the major export markets for the group. To ease the financial impact, MYMBN said it had shifted its sales focus to the existing alternate export market of Vietnam and the local market during that period.
Still, the group admitted that it had been incurring a monthly overhead cost of approximately RM92,000 during the temporary suspension.
In a Dec 31, 2024 announcement, MYMBN said there were orders for approximately RM2.5 million to be exported to China, which the group was unable to fulfil due to the temporary suspension. It said then that it was unable to fully quantify the financial impact of the temporary suspension.
For the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2024 (3QFY2024), MYMBN posted a wider net loss of RM870,000 from RM1.56 million a year earlier, mainly due to decreased demand for RUCEBN products in China and the local market. The weaker quarterly performance dragged the group down to post a net loss of RM280,000 for the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2024 (9MFY2024), compared to a net profit of RM1.49 million a year earlier.
MYMBN was the first company in Malaysia approved by the General Administration of Customs of China to export RUCEBN products to the country.