The Malaysian Estate Owners’ Association proposed the government consider the survival and sustainability of the sector, and allow companies that have been unable to recruit locally to hire foreign workers immediately.
Malaysia, the world’s second-largest producer and exporter of palm oil, is facing a serious labour shortage.
Its palm-oil industry relies on foreigners for 70 percent of the plantation workforce, mainly from Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Thousands have left the plantations for home due to border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
