PETALING JAYA: The return of foreign workers soon will help ease the labour shortage that has plagued the plantation sector.

       Analysts are positive on the development that saw the government recently approving the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the entry of foreign workers to meet the needs of the sector.

       “We are positive on the finalisation of the SOPs for the entry of foreign workers.

       “This brings Malaysia one step closer to alleviating the labour shortage issue in the plantation sector that has caused crude palm oil output to decline by 9% year-on-year for the nine months of 2021,” CGS-CIMB said in its report.

       However, the research house said plantation companies had yet to add any new foreign workers as they were waiting for the formulation of the SOPs and other details of the approvals.

       “We expect the entry of the 32,000 foreign workers to partially alleviate the worker shortage issue and raise productivity in Malaysian estates next year,” it added.

       It was earlier reported that the SOPs for foreign worker entry would cover four stages – pre-departure, arrival, post-arrival (quarantine period) and post-quarantine.

       At the pre-departure stage, workers would need to be fully vaccinated in their country of origin, take a real-time polymerase chain response Covid-19 test 72 hours before leaving the country of origin and submit their vaccination certificates as well as comply with immigration requirements and policies and other criteria that have been set by the government.

       Malaysia has banned the intake of foreign workers since June 2020 due to the pandemic and this had worsened a shortage that has been caused by expiring foreign workers’ permits, poaching of workers by other industries as well as the differing SOPs during the various movement control orders, CGS-CIMB said.

       A recent National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) quick-take survey compiled by various industry associations revealed that the plantation sector is short of 70,000 workers, it said.

       NCCIM also said that the number of foreign workers in the country currently stood at 1.1 million, which is a reduction of 800,000 from 1.9 million in 2018.

       CGS-CIMB had maintained its “neutral” rating on the plantation industry.