Top Glove mulls Turkey factory to meet growing demand

ISTANBUL: Top Glove Corporation Bhd, the world’s largest manufacturer of rubber gloves, is considering setting up a factory in Turkey which already is importing 70 per cent of its demand for the product from the company.

Founder Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai said he sounded out this possibility at a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan here. Turkey is the fourth largest importer of gloves after the US, Japan and Brazil.

Top Glove has operations spanning across Malaysia, Thailand, China, the US and Europe and has captured 25 per cent of the world’s market share.

It exports to 195 countries, fulfilling demand in both the healthcare and non-healthcare segment.

Lim and Berjaya Group founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan are here on a three- day mission to deliver humanitarian relief aid to Syrian refugees as volunteers of the Tzu Chi Foundation, together with 23 other volunteers.

“We are seriously planning to set up a factory in Turkey. It will help create between 500 and 1,000 jobs and on top of my mind is the opportunity to employ the Syrian refugees as well as Turkish citizens,” he told the Malaysian media covering the Tzu Chi mission. The Turkish operation would also boost Top Glove’s presence in Europe.

Lim, one of Malaysia’s top corporate figures, spoke at length about his experience as a Tzu Chi volunteer to bring cheer to the lives of the refugees here for the past two days. — Bernama