KUALA LUMPUR: The rubber gloves industry is booming as reflected by the manufacturers' soaring share prices, buoyed by "supernormal" demand of the products to help fight Covid-19.
Some of the rubber gloves manufacturers' book orders had been filled up to November 2021, according to industry observers.
The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) recently said their members had received requests from 190 countries for more gloves.
Malaysia is the largest manufacturer of medical rubber gloves, supplying almost 65 per cent of the global need.
Last year, the country exported 170 billion pieces of rubber gloves valued at RM17.3 billion.
Global demand was estimated to hit 300 billion pieces this year, industry observers said.
While the spotlight has always been on big players such as Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd and Supermax Corp Bhd, industry observers said there were other proxies to the sector.
They include Luxchem Corp Bhd, Sanichi Technology Bhd and HLT Global Bhd.
Luxchem is a supplier of industrial chemicals and materials in general.
Industry observers said around 35 per cent of Luxchem's total turnover came from the sale of latex chemicals to companies like Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Hartalega, Top Glove, Supermax, Riverstone and Latexx.
The stock has seen its share price rising from 36 sen on March 18 this year to 99 sen on June 1, a 175 per cent increase.
Sanichi, they said, was better known as a leading local manufacturer of moulds for European automotive industries.
But many did not know that Sanichi has the technology plus the facilities and capacity to produce rubber glove moulds.
"Many rubber glove manufacturers from Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are trying to crank up production capacity to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and this lead to a surge in demand for glove moulds," an observer said.
Large demand for moulds also came from replacement of damaged moulds due to wear and tear, he added.
Sanichi stands to benefit from the huge demand for the lucrative rubber glove moulds.
Its share price has more than doubled from 4.5 sen on March 18 this year to 11.5 sen on June 1.
Sanichi is deemed a "laggard", indicating more room for further upside when compared to its net assets per share of 22 sen as at December 31 last year.
HLT, meanwhile, is a specialist in setting up production lines at rubber glove manufacturing plants.
HLT owns a 55 per cent stake in HL Rubber Industries Sdn Bhd, which manufactures rubber gloves.
Its share price surged from 11.5 sen on March 18 to 88.5 sen on June 1 this year, a whopping 670 per cent rise after hitting limit up on Monday as the sentiment for glove makers' shares spilled over to the company.