FGV plans to cut 10 pct of foreign workers

FGV Holdings Bhd is planning to cut 10 percent of its total 32,000 foreign workers.

Group chief executive officer Haris Fadzilah Hassan said the foreign labour workforce currently stands at more than 90 percent of the company's total requirement.

"I think for FGV, we are spared from this current constraint when it comes to foreign labour primarily because we have been focusing on this area since the beginning of the year.

“In fact from last year, we have started to give more emphasis on recruitment. That's why we are able to be at a level of 96 percent," he said during a media briefing on FGV's second-quarter 2020 results today.

He also said FGV was looking to lure more local workers, which now constitutes 5.0 percent of its labour, to work in the plantation segment.

Haris Fadzilah said the current scenario has warranted the increase in mechanisation for FGV.

Following this, it has set aside 30,000 hectares of land to be mechanised over the next three years to reduce foreign labour requirements.

FGV will fork out about RM80 million in capital expenditure (capex) over the next three years to mechanise the land in selected oil palm plantations.

Of the total capex, RM36 million has been allocated for the mechanisation work for 2020.

“We started the mechanisation work two years ago and managed to mechanise about 180,000 hectares of our plantations,” he added.

Meanwhile, FGV said it remained committed to its diversification efforts into the fast-moving consumer good (FMCG) sector to mitigate the impact of the volatility of crude palm oil (CPO) price movements.

In 2019, the CPO prices traded at around RM2,000 per tonne, which was not a sustainable level for FGV’s operations.

“Hence, we have to add value to the palm oil-related products and extend its shelf life to stabilise the CPO prices by offering more product range to consumers,” he said.

FGV’s FMCG sector is categorised into two segments - food and non-food.

"We will build the brand and expand our products portfolio internationally, starting with Southeast Asia,” he added.

- Bernama