Hotels across Southeast Asia have committed to cage-free eggs, and turning those commitments into breakfast plates depends on farms that can deliver at scale. In northern Malaysia and Indonesia, two producers are doing just that.
HENG HUAT FARM: SUPPLYING PENANG’S HOTELS FROM 20,000 HENS
Heng Huat Farm has operated in Sungai Jawi, Penang, since 1998. Today, it operates 20,000 cage-free hens, producing roughly 17,000 eggs a day and supplying hotel chains across the region through distributors, as well as filling orders from cruise ships docking in Penang.
The timing of its cage-free pivot was deliberate. Owner Tan Joo Heng moved into cage-free production in 2018, when Penang’s hotels were already beginning to ask for it. The list of chains with cage-free commitments in Malaysia now includes Marriott, InterContinental, Hilton, Hyatt, Accor, and Hatten, and Heng Huat has been positioned to meet that demand as it grows.
The switch has brought benefits beyond market access. When a nearby farm experienced an avian influenza outbreak, Heng Huat’s hens went unaffected, something Tan attributes to the overall health of his cage-free flock.
WMU: SCALING TOWARD SOUTHEAST ASIA’S LARGEST CAGE-FREE OPERATION
PT Widodo Makmur Unggas Tbk (WMU), a publicly listed Indonesian poultry company, is in a different stage of that same journey. The company currently operates around 200,000 cage-free laying hens and is expanding to 500,000 by 2027, a scale that could make it the largest cage-free egg producer in Southeast Asia.
WMU sells its cage-free eggs through a B2B model to catering companies, hotel chains, restaurants, and fast food outlets, and is preparing to launch its own cage-free retail brand. The expansion is framed not as a replacement of existing production but as entry into a higher-value segment, one driven by food companies that have already committed to cage-free sourcing and domestic businesses increasingly following suit.
The move also aligns with Indonesia’s Permentan No. 32 of 2025 on animal welfare in livestock, which provides regulatory backing for WMU's direction.
TWO MARKETS, SAME DIRECTION
Hotel and food service companies across Southeast Asia have made cage-free commitments, and the region’s supply of cage-free eggs is growing to meet them. Heng Huat and WMU, at very different scales, are both part of that expansion.
