The Malaysian plantation industry players hope the new Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong, will further uplift the industry by addressing several critical issues, including the labour shortage.

It was reported that the commodity industry has faced labour shortage for the last few years and it claimed that the government's move in freezing the intake of foreign workers earlier this year had made it worse.

A director of a plantation company, who wished to remain anonymous, told Bernama that unlike other industries, the plantation sector, especially palm oil, would face losses if fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) were not processed on time.

The FFBs will rot and this will affect oil quality, he said.

"We hope the minister will help the industry look at the labour issues. The industry is losing money (which means) the country is losing money.

"We hope the government will unfreeze the recruitment of foreign workers," he added.

It was reported that oil palm plantation industry had suffered losses of RM2 billion a month due to the shortage of workers to harvest the fruits.

Last month, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had said the Cabinet would exempt four industries – manufacturing, construction, plantation and furniture-making – from its moratorium on foreign labour recruitment due to insufficient manpower.

However, the initiative has yet to be implemented.

Earlier today, Prime Minster Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a Cabinet reshuffle which saw Mah appointed as the new Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister.

He was previously Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

"I'm ready and intend to do my very best.

"In the days and weeks ahead, I will be bringing my team together, taking consultations and briefings widely from all parties and work together on improving the plantation industries," he said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) President/Group CEO, Datuk Zakaria Arshad, said he believed Mah and his new Deputy, Datuk Datu Nasrun Datu Mansur, would bring new ideas and innovations to further strengthen the industry's growth.

"FGV hopes the ministry would further enhance the government-to-government relations and business-to-business initiatives with other countries like China and India to boost further Malaysian palm oil industry," he said in a statement.

Besides Mah, other appointments included Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan (Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, in charge of Economic Planning Unit), Jerlun MP Datuk Othman Aziz (Deputy Finance Minister) while Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani was moved up as Second Finance Minister.

Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong is now Deputy Finance Minister while the current Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong is now Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister.