KUALA LUMPUR: Oil palm planters call on the new government for friendlier business policy by reducing taxes imposed on the sector and allowing more foreign worker intake as acute shortage has and continue to result in fruit wastage in the estates.
MEOA president Jeffrey Ong said acute labour shortage has resulted in wastage of billions of ringgit worth of crop left to rot due to lack of labour in utilising mechanised tools to harvest.
"We implore the government to come up with a long-term policy on the employment of foreign workers for the palm oil industry, rather than numerous short-term policies which are formulated and then implemented without consulting industry and without proper thought given to the longer term consequences of these policies," he said in a statement.
He explained foreign labour is needed in the plantation industry because local workers do not want to work in a sector that is seen as dirty, demeaning, dangerous and difficult (4D jobs).
"Help us achieve a stable workforce by promoting well-planned policies and fair legislation on the employment of foreign workers," he said.
In addition to the labour issues faced, Ong also pointed out oil palm planters contribute one of the highest taxes of all the economic sectors.
Over the past three years from 2015 to 2017, MEOA estimated the palm oil sector has paid about RM21.5 billion in taxes to the government — RM5.5 billion in 2015, RM7 billion in 2016, and RM9 billion in 2017.
For this, he pleaded with the new government to 'comprehensively re-look at the taxes on the sector and reduce them to a fair level that encourages reinvestment for future growth.'
Apart from MEOA, the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) which also represent oil palm planters said many of its members are suffering from persistent low palm oil prices in the global vegetable oils market.
While palm oil prices are essentially shaped by supply and demand forces, MPOA noted that one cannot deny prices are unfairly suppressed by trade barriers be it tariffs imposed in consuming countries or technical requirement that ban and reduce usage of this versatile oil.
Malaysia and Indonesia, which supply around 60 million tonnes of palm oil or more than 85 per cent of the world's palm oil supply face trade threat in the European Union (EU).
Earlier this year, EU lawmakers had proposed to ban palm oil from its biodiesel programme, by the end of 2020.
This, MPOA highlighted, is exemplary of trade barriers that go against the spirit of free trade agreements and violate commonly accepted rules under the World Trade Organisation.