Soki Wu’s food stall, tucked in a food court in a shopping mall in Singapore, is a crowd favorite for its fresh, juicy “chicken rice,” a national dish. But customers recently began complaining that his chicken didn’t taste quite as good as it used to.
Wu was forced to switch to frozen chicken after Malaysia banned exports last month of live broiler chickens that are more affordable and better tasting in a bid to offset rising local prices. For Singapore, which sources a third of its poultry from Malaysia, the impact was immediate.
“This is unavoidable. Using frozen chickens have affected the taste of the dish, but we have no choice,” Wu said.
As inflation surges around the world, politicians are scrambling for ways to keep food affordable as people increasingly protest the soaring cost of living. One knee-jerk response has been food export bans aimed at protecting domestic prices and supplies as a growing number of governments in developing nations try to show a nervous public that their needs will be met.
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