Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 8, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Leading vegetable oil analyst Thomas Mielke of Oil World has raised concerns about the declining yield trend in the palm oil industry here for the past 10 years, reducing the annual palm production and exports of Malaysia, the second-largest palm oil producer in the world.

He said the issues that contributed to this include labour shortage locally despite rapidly rising wages, and the lack of replanting resulting in deteriorating age profile of all palm trees in the country, besides acreage limitations.

Hence, he urges the government to not only liberalise the employment of foreign workers, but also ensure that replanting of oil palm trees takes place in a timely manner.

“The government should also think how to help stimulate replanting, for example by offering a tax reduction to those who comply with replanting requirements. [Or] give them tax incentives, rather than subsidies,” he said.

 

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