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Post adjusted the Marketing Year (MY) 2020/21 crude palm oil (CPO) production forecast down by 8,000 tons to 18.7 million tons. COVID-19 has caused acute labor shortages as the Government of Malaysia (GOM) halted the intake of new foreign workers indefinitely, while allowing foreign workers with expired work permits to return home, thus exaggerating the labor issues.

Caribbean imports of consumer-oriented products shrunk from $2.3 billion in 2019 to $2.1 billion in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet Caribbean retail grocery sales grew by an estimated 6 percent during the same period.