The resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic in Southeast Asia has affected not only the automotive chip industry chain, but also a major impact on the supply chain of commodities such as palm oil and coffee, which may push the prices of related commodities to continue to rise.

There is a serious shortage of labor in palm oil plantations in Malaysia.

Malaysia is the second largest palm oil producer in the world, and its palm oil industry relies heavily on immigrants from Indonesia, Bangladesh and India for cultivation and production.

With the resurgence of the epidemic in Malaysia, the country had previously introduced very strict epidemic blockade measures, declaring that the country had "closed the city". This prevents migrant workers from going to the plantations and there is a serious shortage of labour on the plantations.

Malaysian palm oil giant Sime Darby Plantation Bhd has previously said that labor shortages in its palm plantations have deteriorated so badly that only 1/5 of its labor demand has been met. Labor shortages and reduced rainfall led to a 5% drop in palm oil production in Malaysia in the first half of the year.

Senami's planting experience is not an isolated case. Malaysia Palm Oil Council data show that affected by the epidemic, Malaysia's palm oil production in the first eight months of this year decreased by 13.6% compared with the same period last year.

Coffee export restrictions in Vietnam

The situation of coffee supply in Southeast Asia is similar.

Vietnam is the world's largest exporter of robusta coffee beans for instant coffee and espresso, ranking second only to Brazil in terms of overall coffee exports.

After the resurgence of the epidemic in July this year, Vietnam's strict epidemic blockade measures seriously affected the transport and export of coffee in the country, making it difficult for exporters to transport goods, including Robbins Tasheng coffee, to ports around the world. The disruption of Vietnam's coffee supply chain puts global coffee prices at risk of further rise after Brazil, the world's largest coffee exporter, cut coffee production due to weather problems.

Companies including Unilever and Folgers Coffee say rising raw material prices are adding to cost pressures that will eventually be passed on to consumers.

Graeme Pitkethly, Unilever's chief financial officer, said palm oil, a key ingredient in the company's skin cleansing products, is currently 70% above its long-term average, and the company has raised the price of some products to ease cost pressure.

Toyota and Volkswagen cut production because of Malaysia

The global chip shortage is being exacerbated by the suspension of production in Malaysia as a result of the epidemic.

Malaysia has become a major center for chip testing and packaging in recent years.。Testing and packaging are the last step in semiconductor production, which makes Malaysia's position in the entire industry chain very important.

HIS, a financial data institution, is available atIt was said in the previous research newspaper thatPackaging and testing businesses are particularly vulnerable to viruses because they require more people than chip manufacturing, which is a highly automated process. This has attracted attention in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, where local outbreaks have directly caused and exacerbated the global chip shortage.

Toyota, Japan's largest carmaker, had previously announced that it would cut production in Japan by 40% in September because of a shortage of semiconductors. Ford and General Motors Co also said they planned to arrange more downtime at several North American plants, in part because overseas virus-related restrictions further exacerbated chip supply restrictions.