KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — For over a century, the plantation industry has remained a crucial component of Malaysia’s economy with a sustained dominance in the global market for palm oil production and exports after Indonesia.
She said she will be meeting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to discuss about her intention as she will be leaving Bersatu to join Parti Bangsa Malaysia. “I did not sack her, she is still a Cabinet minister,” he told Malaysian journalists in Tokyo on Saturday at the end of his official working visit to Japan.Meanwhile, Zuraida’s announcement came at a time when the industry is facing acute labour shortage.
She aimed to bring in 32,000 migrant workers for oil palm plantations and projected Malaysia’s palm oil production and exports to rise by 30 per cent by end-2022 as Malaysia reopened its international borders and transitioning to the endemic phase since April 1. Labour shortage was the biggest hurdle faced by the palm oil industry especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, with losses for the country running into billions of ringgit. However the global economic reopening has resulted in pent-up demand for the versatile oil.