KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 (Bernama) — The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) takes cognisance of the concerns raised by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) in May this year that the Malaysian oil palm plantation sector could potentially be incurring losses of RM21 billion in 2021 and a further RM28 billion in 2022 if foreign workers are not brought into the country immediately.
The issue of the lack of foreign workers started following the closure of national borders due to the implementation of several stages of the Movement Control Order (MCO) when the Covid-19 pandemic peaked and worsened, affecting the harvesting process in farms across the country.