KUALA LUMPUR (April 30): Malaysia will end price control on eggs effective on May 1 as part of the government’s phased subsidy retargeting, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) said on Wednesday.
Subsidies on eggs will be reduced to five sen from 10 sen per unit before being fully scrapped on August 1, 2025, the ministry said in a statement. The decision was made after considering industry commitment to ensure “sufficient and guaranteed” supply as production costs stabilised, it noted.
“The government has also taken into account that prolonged price control and subsidy is unsustainable for the local egg producing industry as well as the country's finances,” MAFS said.
The government has spent close to RM2.5 billion between February 2022 and December 2024 for subsidies on eggs to help producers cope with rising costs of soybean and corn following the Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine-Russia conflict.
The removal of egg subsidies is the latest step in the government’s ongoing fiscal consolidation efforts.
To minimise the impact on cost of living, MAFS said it will, together with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living, take intervention measures including introducing a new grade of eggs at “reasonable” price and stepping up enforcement to curb profiteering and price manipulation.
Savings from the subsidy allocation will be channelled to financing certain projects, MAFS added.