Palm oil output at risk as lockdown worsens labour shortage

“The crux of the issue is the labour shortage. We have lost of about 20% to 30% of our potential production because of this, ” according to Datuk Nageeb Wahab, chief executive at the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, a growers’ group that represents 40% of palm plantations by area. “That would have gone up more this year especially among smallholders, ” he said in an interview.

MUMBAI: A resurgence of Covid-19 infections in No 2 palm oil grower Malaysia is set to exacerbate a labour shortage and curb production of the world’s most-consumed cooking oil.

The South-East Asian country, which announced it will extend the first phase of its national lockdown to the end of June, has shuttered non-essential industries and is expected to prolong a freeze on the recruitment of foreign workers as it battles with a third wave of the pandemic.