Hot, Dry Weather Cuts Palm Oil Yields in Malaysia’s Top Producing State

Planters are bracing for another year of tight supply, partly due to a lack of fertilising after the coronavirus pandemic and as the Russia-Ukraine conflict inflated costs.

El Nino will worsen the impact of under-fertilising and threatens to hammer yields in 2023 and 2024, industry players and officials say, which would prop up prices of the world’s cheapest edible oil and heighten concerns over food inflation.

High temperatures also increase the risk of outbreaks of leafeating nettle caterpillars and bagworm, while dry soil hinders fertiliser-hungry palm trees from absorbing nutrients.

“Hence, the trees have less to eat and drink,” said Lim, who is scheduling his fertiliser programme around rain forecasts and has doubled the frequency of monitoring to ensure there is no outbreak of leaf-eating pests in the estate.

Adrian, the other estate manager, said he is mitigating soil moisture loss by using empty palm fruit bunches as mulch between rows of palm trees.

He said the bigger concern, however, is a long-standing shortage of workers for harvesting.

A pandemic-induced severe labour crunch in migrant-reliant Malaysia started to ease this year after the government relaxed hiring restrictions, but many plantations are still facing a shortfall of manpower ahead of the main July-September harvest.

Customer: Palm Oil Producer with excess fuel.

Challenge: Generate power for a factory far off the grid.

Result: Elliott steam turbine generators produce reliable, renewable on-site electricity.