Vol. 6 (2) September 2006 – OPIEJ

Labour Constraints in the Plantation Industry

mpob_admin — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 05:12:13 +0000

In the case of modern Malaysian plantation scenario, there is already ample legislation in place to create conducive labour relations environment as well as to enhance industrial and economic growth. Its main functions are: protection of the economic and social interest of workers, assist in enhancing national productivity and in promoting and preserving industrial harmony in the country. It also encourages employers in the private sector to employ disabled persons, promoting activities to facilitate and improve the planting environment so as to enhance the participation of unutilized workforce into the labour market. Certainly, the quality development of human capital will ensure continued progress for the nation. Hence, employers are duty-bound to invest in training. However, with a population of about 25 million and a vast area under cultivation of tropical crops such as oil palm, rubber, cocoa and paddy covering about 6 million hectares and a thriving manufacturing, construction and services sectors, intense competition to recruit suitable and available local workers is the norm. Today, it is evident that through the process of Malaysianization, the ownership of plantation equity is predominantly under Malaysian hands. Thus, conflicting priorities set by decision-makers, both in public and private sectors at times create a challenging situation as well, which may be one of the reasons discouraging the local population from being attracted to plantation life. Overall, there is a shortage of manpower in the plantation sector. In order to sustain economic growth of the country, the government has been pragmatic in their approach to fulfill the manpower needs. Thus, employment of guest workers (generally known as foreign workers) from approved source countries were allowed in order to alleviate the shortage of manpower in certain sectors, including the plantation and construction industry. However, with the influx of migrant workers with various background and disposition, many challenges are encountered. There has been some tension between the local community and guest workers. Cases of abuse and mistreatment attracted the media into reporting them as sensational news and may have influenced policy-makers. Policies change frequently, employer’s dependency on guest workers increases with the area under cultivation. Local workers shun the plantation sector in favour of better working environment in and around urban setting. Over reliance on one particular group of guest workers has proved to bring negative impact. Additionally, of late (05/05/05), the Prime Minister (PM) had just outlined that addiction to cheap foreign labour as being one of the three Malaysian few bad habits, If we are not serious about combating this problem, maybe it is time for us to venture into other businesses which

Blending of Palm Biomass and Coal: An Alternative Fuel for Power Generation in Malaysia

mpob_admin — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 05:09:26 +0000

Palm oil mills in Malaysia generate vast amounts of biomass wastes such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), fibre and shell. The mills burn the shell and pressed fibre to generate their own heat and electricity, but the EFB is surplus to its requirements although a legitimate fuel in its own right. With growing environmental consciousness, ... Read more

Cosmetics and Personal Care Products – Recent Trends in the Asia Pacific Markets

mpob_admin — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 05:07:58 +0000

The cosmetics and personal care product markets of Asia Pacific are growing rapidly. Various players are entering these markets. These markets are the most expanding market among Asia Pacific for the moment. Recent trend of China and ASEAN markets are reported with statistical data of market trend. The largest market of Asia is Japan market. Products of some global players are penetrating into Japanese consumers. Japanese players are fighting against them. Hard competition of this market is reported. There are some product categories in cosmetic and personal care market such as skin care and hair care in general. However, sign of new market trends are observed in more precise product categories. New market trend in skin care field is introduced.

Indonesian Oil Palm Competitiveness: PT Socfindo as a Private Sector Example

mpob_admin — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 05:06:45 +0000

PT Socfindo is a long established, foreign owned, plantation company with operations in North Sumatra and Aceh. This paper provides a brief review of the background situation to the Indonesian oil palm industry, whilst noting the continued rapid expansion of this sector. The paper also provides a detailed example of how, over the past 30 years, PT Socfindo has retained its competitive advantage in terms of production costs and profitability through the twin mechanisms of increased productivity (internal factor) and rupiah devaluation(external factor). Provided the continued improvement in productivity of every hectare of planted land can be sustained by progressive improvements in planting materials and agricultural practices, the future prospects of this company remain extremely positive. Therefore, the experience gained by PT Socfindo over this extended period of increasing competition and a declining trend in palm oil commodity prices, could act as an example for the new players to follow in order to sustain the competitiveness of the Indonesian oil palm sector

The Elasticity of Foreign Demand for Malaysian Palm Oil

mpob_admin — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 05:05:23 +0000

The price elasticity of export demand is expected to receive considerable attention due to the current economic climate of volatile export markets and prices. The export demand elasticity is used to predict the change in demand for an export for a unit change in its price and to model the behaviour of foreign buyers. This project estimated the elasticity of foreign demand for Malaysian palm oil for the major importing countries – China P R, India, Pakistan, Egypt and South Korea. The error correction mechanism (ECM) method was used for the estimation considering its usefulness in quantifying the short-run and long-run effects of explanatory variables on the dependent variables using timeseries data. It was found that the price of palm oil plays a very significant role in its export; thus, the price needs to be stable and competitive with those of its substitutes, especially soyabean oil. From panel data research, the effect of a unit change in the soyabean oil price is greater on the exports of crude palm oil than the effect of the same change in the palm oil price. This means that both oils are highly substitutable.