The ministry’s secretary-general Azman Yusof said the ministry was constantly monitoring the supply of eggs in the market and it was also working with several ministries, including the ministry of agriculture and food industries (MAFI) on the issue.

He said that so far, there have not been any complaints about hoarding of eggs by traders.

“I have also been in touch with the MAFI secretary-general and our officers are having technical discussions with several ministries today to ensure that there is an adequate supply of eggs in the market,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after inspecting the supply of food items at a supermarket in conjunction with the Deepavali festival maximum price scheme, effective from Oct 20 to 26.

Meanwhile, Azman said that the lack of supply of chicken eggs in a particular area was probably due to problems with payment, location and logistics which disrupted delivery.

He also hoped that all industry players would cooperate with the government to ensure an adequate supply of food at reasonable prices, especially ahead of Deepavali.

In a separate matter, Azman said a total of 708,230 business premises were inspected nationwide and action was taken against 9,421 for various offences, with RM93.86 million seized from January to September last year.

He said the ministry also disposed of various confiscated items worth RM24.61 million during the same period.