‘Adopt skills training, reduce dependence on foreign workers’

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is taking steps to reduce the timber and furniture sector’s reliance on foreign labour, by encouraging the industry to train more skilled workers and adopt automation.

“The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) is helping to develop more skilled workers that are needed for high value-added products, such as original design manufacturing. And we also encourage automation by factories,” Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) director-general Datuk Jalaluddin Harun told a press conference yesterday, in explaining measures taken by the government to reduce reliance on foreign workers.

He explained that high value-added products are those that are manufactured locally using imported raw materials and are then sold again at higher prices.

That, Jalaluddin said, coupled with automation means that the industry will require more skilled workers than cheap foreign labour in the future.

Delivering Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong’s speech at the opening ceremony of Global Timber Conference 2016, Jalaluddin said Malaysia’s timber and timber products export in 2015 was valued at US$5.59 billion, approximately 1.36% of the global timber trade.

This makes Malaysia the 9th largest timber exporter in the world. The country imported US$880.57 million (RM3.63 billion) worth of timber products in 2015.

Malaysia is the first nation in the Asia Pacific region to be recognised by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Scheme (PEFC) in 2009, which promotes trade in legally harvested timber.