KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) is hoping to get 5,000 more workers from Indonesia, thus resolving its labour shortage by the first half of 2023.
Group managing director Mohamad Helmy Othman Basha said SDP expects the issue to be resolved by May or June this year.
“Last year, we managed to bring in 3,000 workers from Indonesia and we are still bringing in the workers every week now.
“We only take from Indonesia currently and they normally will not come in during the fasting month and Aidil Fitri. So we will probably lose about two months. Otherwise, we could have resolved it earlier,” he said during the company’s briefing on its fourth-quarter financial performance today.
On the transition of foreign workers, although more new workers are coming in, others are also going back. It is normal attrition, Mohamad Helmy said.
He also noted that most of the foreign workers are harvesters and pruners.
“We do not take any more general workers because we want to attract locals and use a mechanised solution or an automated solution,” he said.
In terms of workers’ breakdown, 75 per cent of its employees were foreign workers and 25 per cent were locals before the pandemic, and now, it has been lowered to 65 per cent foreign workers and 35 per cent local employees.
In 2022, SDP appointed 400 local employees for higher-skill jobs where they earned salaries of between RM2,000 and RM5,000 per month.
Meanwhile, SDP is expecting higher production this year, according to Mohamad Helmy.
Sime Darby Oils Sdn Bhd managing director Mohd Haris Mohd Arshad said SDP is expecting the demand for crude palm oil to be weaker in the first quarter of this year.
“If you look at the demand in quarter one, traditionally, it has always been the weakest quarter. Then, it picks up again accordingly. We are seeing this again this year.
“We do expect demand for products to be big in quarter two onwards as they will start buying again,” he said, adding the commodity’s price was expected to range between RM4,200 and RM3,800 per tonne this year.
The plantation company today announced its results for the financial year ended December 31, 2022 (FY2022), which saw net profit increase 10 per cent to RM2.49 billion for FY2022 from RM2.26 billion last year on the back of a record performance by the group’s downstream operations, Sime Darby Oils.
Revenue rose to RM21.03 billion versus RM18.70 billion.
It has approved a final dividend of 6.04 sen per share for the financial year to be paid on May 15 this year. The entitlement date is April 28.
— Bernama
