20/06/2025

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FRIDAY | JUNE 20, 2025

MSM Malaysia unfazed by influx of Thai sugar

Asean urged to set minimum wage standard, support women in work KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Asean should collectively establish a minimum wage standard to prevent the bloc from undercutting one another with lower salaries. “It is important that Malaysia and Asean economies collectively set a floor to ensure there is no race-to-the-bottom in wage suppression as women will be most hurt,“ Investment, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Liew Chin Tong said in his speech at the Women Economic Forum Asean 2025 yesterday. He pointed out that the theme for Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship in 2025 is “Inclusivity and Sustainability”, reflecting its commitment to ensuring shared progress and prosperity across the region, leaving no one behind as it aims to achieve stability and resilience. Liew said Malaysia’s female labour parti cipation rate remains low at 56%, compared to 82.9% for men, which is lower than many of the Southeast Asian economies. He said the Malaysian economy has been depending on unskilled and cheap foreign labour for the last three decades, which has kept wages low and made businesses less likely to hire women. “If there are too many foreign workers, the salaries will be lower, and it will no longer be attractive to women entering the formal sector. That is a challenge that we have to deal with as a nation,“ he said. Liew said the nation needs more skilled workers and a higher wage level to attract more women into the formal labour market. “A tight labour market will encourage employers to pay more attention to making it more attractive for women to join the workforce,“ he said. Liew highlighted that 65% of Malaysian public university students are women, indicating a higher enrolment rate of women compared to men. “However, the balance changes upon these graduates entering the workforce.” Therefore, Liew called for stronger support systems to help women remain in the workforce over the long term. “We need to have a stronger childcare, aged care and overall healthcare structure to support women in the workforce. We need a strong care economy.” Liew also said Malaysia is an example of high women’s participation in economic decision making at the higher level, but a low overall female labour participation rate. In Malaysia, women account for 58% of the civil service, and 42% of senior positions (JUSA/Super Scale C and above), a figure Liew described as “quite high among developing countries.” Within the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti), Liew said 69% of staff are women. He added that Malaysia also mandates 30% female representation on public-listed company boards since 2023, with high compliance so far. The Women Economic Forum Asean 2025, organised by Yayasan Bina Kesejahteraan (YBCARE) with the support of the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, Malaysia (Miti) was graced by Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of the Prime Minister, and the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur Datuk Seri Maimunah Mohd Shariff. Ű BY HAYATUN RAZAK sunbiz@thesundaily.com

Ű BY MAHADHIR MONIHULDIN sunbiz@thesundaily.com

o Company says it is well positioned to compete with imported products, leveraging domestic scale and operational capabilities

KUALA LUMPUR: Sugar producer MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd remains confident in its competitive position despite the influx of sugar imported from Thailand. The company is well positioned to compete with imported products, leveraging its established domestic scale and operational capabilities and will continue to maintain its market presence and deliver value to customers in the face of increased competition, said group CEO Syed Feizal Syed Mohammad. He said the company has a total scale of two million tonnes and is adopting a strategy of competing with imported sugar for a certain given volume. “We still retain a good number of market share, and we have a specific price strategy to counter Thai imports, while the government considers other mitigating factors. “Our refineries got good efficiencies, and we see significant improvement in Johor, so it’s not a matter of economics,” he said after the company’s 14th annual general meeting yesterday. Syed Feizal said special actions must be taken to mitigate dumping practices and that the joint industry has taken measures in that direction. MSM marked 2024 with a turnaround for the group, continuing its positive momentum to produce a year-on-year improvement, which was made all the more significant by a return to profitability. This progress was underpinned by stronger operational performance at MSM Sugar Refinery (Johor) Sdn Bhd and the continued optimisation of steady operations at MSM Prai Bhd. In FY24, MSM Malaysia recorded a profit before tax of RM75 million, a significant reversal from the loss before tax of RM28 million in FY23. Revenue grew 15% year-on-year to RM3.54 billion in FY24 compared to RM3.09 billion in FY23, supported by an 8% increase in sales volume and a 6% higher average selling price. The positive growth was underpinned by the execution of transformation and turn around strategy, focusing on cost optimi sation, efficiency enhancements and market expansion. Despite market challenges, including volatile raw sugar prices and rising freight costs, MSM Malaysia effectively managed risks through proactive hedging strategies and improved cost structures. “FY24 marked a pivotal year for MSM Malaysia as we successfully delivered a

From left: MSM Malaysia group COO Hasni Ahmad, Syed Feizal, chairman Datuk Syed Hisham Syed Wazir and CFO Ab Aziz Ismail after the company’s AGM.

greater operational efficiency while driving strategic growth initiatives to strengthen long term sustainability. A key focus will be on boosting overall sales through enhanced domestic and export strategies, including targeted collaborations and partnerships. Separately, in a Bursa Malaysia filing yesterday, MSM Malaysia said it aims to sustain growth amid geopolitical challenges and market volatility. MSM Malaysia said it is closely monitoring market dynamics as the sugar industry continues to face challenges driven by persistently high input costs and volatile raw sugar prices, which are influenced by fluctuating global production. This is particularly heightened by the increased geopolitical tensions and ongoing trade wars, which may further disrupt global supply chains and foreign exchange rates. To address these risks, MSM Malaysia is reinforcing its domestic market position while managing export pricing pressures. It is also leveraging steady domestic demand and actively pursuing opportunities in value added products to diversify revenue streams. MSM Malaysia said engagement with government stakeholders remains a priority. It is working to finalise a sustainable pricing mechanism for the domestic retail segment and advocating for effective controls on imported refined sugar. These measures are essential to support national food security and ensure the long-term sustainability of Malaysia’s sugar industry.

significant turnaround, returning to profita bility and achieving notable financial and opera-tional improvements. “One of the most significant contributors to our improved performance was stronger production efficiency. In 2024, the group recorded a capacity utilisation factor of 54%, up from 48% in 2023, while our yield improved to 96% from 95%,” Syed Feizal said. He noted that these gains were supported by operational discipline at MSM Prai and MSM Johor, where they streamlined pro cesses, enhanced preventive maintenance and improved energy efficiency. “MSM will continue to mitigate input costs such as raw sugar, forex and freight with gradual hedging as part of risk management to ensure margin sustainability while opti mising cost management through production and supply chain efficiencies,” Syed Feizal said. For 2025, MSM aims to expand market presence, particularly in China and the Asean region, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Singa pore and the Philippines. The goal is to increase total export volumes to 360,000 tonnes in 2025, with an emphasis on value-added products, such as liquid sugar and premixes, from MSM Johor. Looking ahead, MSM Malaysia ap proaches 2025 with cautious optimism, supported by the progress achieved over the past year and the solid foundation established through its ongoing transformation. The company’s priority will be to unlock

‘Rethink economic approach to focus on home-grown innovation’ KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia must rethink its economic approach and focus on developing home-grown technology and intellectual property to reduce reliance on foreign innovations, said Investment, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Liew Chin Tong. players in creating and owning technology. “We will have to ensure that at the top level, our economy will be able to capture a lot more technological rent and not just depend on foreign technology. Liew said this during a fireside chat titled“The Role of Asean Government Authorities: Women and Ministries in Driving the Economy at the Women Economic Forum Asean 2025 here yesterday.

The deputy minister noted that this shift is important not only to secure foreign trade agreements with other countries but also to generate high-quality, upskilled job opportunities, as well as to offer better wages for Malaysians. – Bernama

“We have to have companies that are local Malaysian companies, Asean companies that are creating and innovating and creating value so that they can extract more technological rent from the economy,” he said.

He said the country must aim to capture greater “technological rent” – the value derived from local innovation by fostering an ecosystem that supports domestic companies and regional