KUALA LUMPUR: Seller Rosli Ahmad, 54, sees only half his order of chicken delivered to his stall at the Pandamaran wet market in Klang.
Rosli, who has been in the business for three decades, said it was the first time his supplier had said there was a shortage of birds from farms.
"I've never heard of this excuse before. But I think they are purposely withholding stock now.
"I used to have 1,000 fresh chickens sent to me daily, but this has been reduced to between 400 and 500.
"This has been going on for two or three months before the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations.
"Now the situation has got worse.
"Now I serve only my regular customers, who are mostly roadside traders, restaurant operators and factories. I open my stall at 4am and close at 8am. Once all is sold, I am done.
"My suppliers cannot guarantee if they can send me more chickens.
"I'll see what tomorrow brings. I don't want to think too much about it as it'll just give me a headache," he told the New Straits Times.
Rosli, who receives chickens by the bag, said he received about 50 daily, which should contain 10 chickens, but the number had been reduced to seven or eight.
He said he was concerned if he could cope with his customers' demand while his earnings had fallen by half.
"My supplier sends chicken to me at RM9.40 per kg and I sell it at RM10 or RM10.50.
"My profit is less than enough, but I feel it's more important to keep it low to maintain my regular customers."
He urged the authorities to go to farms to understand the plight of chicken operators.
Meanwhile, Sate Famili manager Syarafiq Abdul Samad said the lack of chicken had forced the satay manufacturer to limit production as suppliers had claimed there was a shortage of stock from farms.
Syarafiq said he now obtained his chicken from two suppliers.
"During Hari Raya Aidilfitri, we made between 50,000 and 70,000 sticks a day.
"However, due to the shortage now, we can only make about half.
"We have to limit the number of sticks customers can buy and we try to negotiate nicely with them.
"If they want 500 sticks, we will have to offer 400.
"Fortunately for us, they understand our situation as we also want other customers to buy the satay.
"If we feel we cannot keep up with the demand due to a lack of meat, we will close orders for the day."
This was the third time the cost of chicken had risen since the hikes in December and February, he said.
He said he felt the strain as the high cost came in tandem with the rising prices of ingredients needed to make satay and its sauce, including peanuts, chili and sugar.
He said there was also a shortage of beef as his order of 50 tonnes would be reduced to 30 tonnes, but there were no issues with lamb.
Like Rosli, he urged the government to sympathise with business operators as they had to not only bear the cost of ingredients but also cover operational costs and salaries.