Malaysians ate 964 tonnes of chicken in 2006 MALAYSIANS consumed a whopping 964 tonnes of chicken in 2006 compared with about 940 tonnes the previous year, statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry show. Consumption of chicken greatly surpassed that of beef, which was 135.4 tonnes in 2006 and 132.8 tonnes in 2005. It is learnt that a significant volume of the chicken consumed in Malaysia is sold through fast-food chains such as KFC, which has introduced chicken-based dishes, sandwiches, salads and tenders, among other items. "Basically, almost everyone in Malaysia eats chicken. People can eat it two to three times a week, or even everyday if they want to," QSR Brands Bhd chairman Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim said. QSR holds 43 per cent of KFC Holdings Malaysia Bhd, which in turn owns more than 460 KFC outlets in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Cambodia. It also owns the Ayamas brand and Rasamas outlets. Muhammad Ali said QSR plans to increase the production capacity of its plants in Bukit Mertajam in Penang and Klang in Selangor because of the strong demand for chicken and chicken-based products. The company is also going ahead with plans to invest RM25 million in a new plant in Johor, which is expected to be ready by the year-end. "To meet the demand for KFC and Ayamas products in the market, we slaughtered more than 33 million chickens last year," he told Business Times in Kuala Lumpur. He said the two existing plants have the capacity to slaughter three million chickens a month. The new plant is expected to boost capacity by 30-40 per cent, or 1.5 million more chickens. QSR will upgrade the Klang plant to provide value-added services and downstream chicken products soon, he added. It will also introduce an Entrepreneur Farming concept to strengthen its chicken supply. Entrepreneurs will be able to own up to 25 per cent share of the business, with the rest held by QSR. "We have identified a number of individuals, including our staff, who are interested in venturing into the chicken-farming business," Muhammad Ali said. http://www.btimes.com.my/Monday/Nation/chick3.xml