Analysis-Malaysia's palm oil producers adjust to labour shortages, higher recruitment costs

KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia's palm oil producers are racing to adjust to an acute shortage of workers due to the coronavirus and sharply higher costs of recruitment as they make changes in response to accusations of forced labour.

The most pressing problem for palm oil producers such as FGV Holdings and Sime Darby Plantation is a lack of workers to harvest palm trees, a skilled and dangerous task. To alleviate the situation, Malaysia in September approved the recruitment of 32,000 foreign workers for palm oil plantations, prioritising those from Indonesia. Although even if that many were hired, it would still leave plantations well below full capacity for the next peak harvest season of September to November 2022.

"The risks of a failed or corrupt recruitment process to Malaysia's government and industry reputation at this time, already reeling from U.S. forced labour sanctions and a blackened image globally, are real," labour rights activist Andy Hall told Reuters. Educating and preventing labourers making large payments to recruiters or other middlemen, which up to now has been common, is one of the key issues that needs to be addressed, according to Hall.

"We have to go through the process of agents identifying workers, preparing the passports, Indonesian government clearance, and Malaysian government's standard operating procedures," MPOA Chief Executive Nageeb Wahab told Reuters.

Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Firms offering higher pay due to manpower crunch, thus driving up costs: SBF surveySINGAPORE — The current manpower crunch, resulting from border restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19, has been one of the biggest challenges businesses in Singapore have had to deal with this year. Will firms pay more to retain staff?
Source: TODAYonline - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »

Source: BusinessTimes - 🏆 15. / 51 Read more »

VW Americas CEO sees chip shortage lasting into 2022, but industry protecting marginsDETROIT : Volkswagen AG\u0027s Americas chief sees the global chip shortage lasting into the third quarter of next year, but believes the auto industry will maintain the discipline that has led to strong vehicle pricing and corporate profits even when the flow of semiconductors returns to normal. The COVID-19 s
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Toyota to halt production at 2 Japan factories due to supply shortage -JijiTOKYO : Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp will halt production at two domestic factories in Japan due to a supply shortage, news agency Jiji reported on Thursday. (Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

North Korea wants to give candies to kids for Kim Jong Un's birthday, but it's making its citizens pay to produce them: reportSnacks are typically given to children on the Kims' birthdays, but a massive food shortage this year led officials to impose a tax on ingredients.
Source: YahooSG - 🏆 3. / 71 Read more »

Omicron may pose higher reinfection risk but could be milder than Delta: WHO chiefGENEVA — Early data indicates the Omicron Covid variant may more easily reinfect people who have already had the virus or been vaccinated than previous variants, but could also cause milder disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Wednesday (Dec 8).
Source: TODAYonline - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »