Demand for natural rubber gloves to pick up

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) believes that demand for natural rubber gloves will make a comeback once buyers’ mindsets and concerns are appropriately addressed.

Margma said the depletion of inventory in the pipeline would bring about a normal equilibrium between production capacity utilisation and global demand.

“Alternative synthetics and natural rubber gloves will see wider consumer acceptance.

“The industry is also advancing in the areas of the recycling economy with new raw materials, additives and substances that are environmentally friendly and biodegradable,” Margma said in a statement.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said Malaysian exports of rubber gloves were high during the pandemic, adding however that demand had since subsided.

“In spite of that, many countries invited Malaysian glove manufacturers to open factories in their countries because they believe people still need rubber gloves in view of the new trend that people are more hygiene conscious,” she said after she opened the 10th International Rubber Glove Conference and Exhibition (IRGCE) yesterday.

She hoped key industry players such as Hartalega would look into investing into upstream activities so that they would have the whole ecosystem to support the business.

She added that the industry, otherwise, would be lopsided.

“We are very dependent on our smallholders because 90% of production comes from the smallholders. We need to manage these smallholder plantations in a more structured manner to ensure the sustainability of raw materials,” she said.

Margma president Dr S Supramaniam said Malaysia continues to lead in innovative production of medical examination and surgical gloves.

“We have the world’s best in Malaysia producing about 259 billion pieces of gloves and supplying to 195 countries in the world, fulfilling about 65% of global demand.

“In 2021, the rubber glove industry (RGI) contributed Rm54.81bil or 3.78% to the Malaysian gross domestic product as a result of the exceptional surge in demand and average selling price (ASP) due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Upon equilibrium, the demand and ASP have normalised to pre-pandemic levels, hence this year we expect the RGI export value to be around Rm23bil or about 1.2% of Malaysia’s GDP in 2022,” he said during his presentation entitled State of the Rubber Glove Industry at the conference.

He said the global demand for rubber gloves is expected to be around 399 billion pieces for 2022 with year-on-year annual growth expected at 10% to 12%.