PETALING JAYA: Malaysians love food, but what do we eat the most?

Rice, the country’s staple food, tops the list.

Malaysia’s per capita consumption of rice is currently at 79kg, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu was reported saying in September.

Statistically, this means that on average each person in Malaysia consumes 79kg of rice per year or about 1.5kg per week.

Apart from rice, data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) offers further insights on other foods we eat a lot of.

DOSM’s 2023 Selected Agricultural Indicators includes per capita consumption figures for meats, fish vegetables and fruits.

According to the report, chicken meat came out tops, followed by coconuts and chicken/duck eggs.

The report states that the country’s per capita consumption of chicken meat stood at 48kg last year, which works out to about 1kg per week.

The annual per capita consumption of coconuts for 2022 was meanwhile at 24.2kg, while chicken/duck eggs was at 22.6kg.

Chicken lovers

Malaysia is ranked as one of the world’s top global poultry meat consumers in term of per capita consumption, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) data.

The FAO, in its report titled OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook, compiled data of a selected group of 35 countries, Malaysia’s poultry meat consumption per capita is greater than countries like Brazil, Canada, Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom.

The DOSM report’s data shows that chicken meat has consistently held the top position as the most consumed food item by Malaysians.

Malaysia produced 1.54mil tonnes of chicken meat last year with an average annual production of about 1.59mil tonnes per year (2018 - 2022).

The king of fish

Mackerel, comprising Temenong/Pelaling, Tenggiri and Kembung was the popular type of fish, according to the report, with a per capita consumption of 6kg last year.

Shrimp landed in second place with a per capita consumption of 4.2kg followed by cuttlefish at 2.5kg.

The real king of fruits

The versatile coconut, which can be processed into many different products, was the most popular fruit.

Per capita consumption of coconuts, which stood at 24.2kg was nearly double the figure for durian (12.4kg), with pineapples in third place (12.2kg).

Champion vegetable

Round cabbage recorded the highest per capita consumption among vegetables in the report at 7.6kg followed by mustard (sawi) at 4.5kg and tomato (4.4kg).

Of the 52 items listed in the DOSM report, pineapples saw the biggest percentage jump in per capita consumption, rising by 45.2% in 2022 compared to 2021.

The biggest decline in per capita consumption was meanwhile recorded by mango, which fell 63.6% in the same period.

The drop is likely due to lower production of the fruit. According to the DOSM report, domestic mango production fell to 9,219 tonnes last year, a decrease by -24.5% as against 2021 production.

my.Malaysia is a series of data stories that highlights interesting facts and figures on anything and everything related to Malaysia.