KUALA LUMPUR: Seacera Group Bhd, via subsidiary Seacera Polymer Sdn Bhd, has bagged the exclusive right from XiDeLang Holdings Ltd to resell and distribute protective clothing products in Malaysia.
Under the distribution agreement, XiDeLang said Seacera would have an irrevocable, non-transferable, exclusive right and licence to distribute its protective clothing products.
However, no franchise is granted and Seacera has the full right to decide on the methods of marketing, pricing, naming, packaging, labelling and advertising, and the terms and conditions of any sale.
XiDeLang managing director and chief executive officer Ding PengPeng said its protective clothing products were classified as personal protective equipment (PPE) in the protective equipment industry.
He said the global protective clothing market size was projected to reach US$11.9 billion by 2024 from US$8.8 billion in 2019, at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3 per cent.
"The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that severe and mounting disruption to the global supply of PPE caused by rising demand, panic buying, hoarding and misuse – is putting lives at risk from the new coronavirus and other infectious diseases," he said in a joint-statement to Bursa Malaysia today.
He said XiDeLang was responding to WHO's calls on industries and governments to increase manufacturing by 40 per cent to meet rising global demand.
"Today, we have finally formalised our dealing with this agreement and granted Seacera the exclusive right to sell and distribute our protective clothing products for resale purposes in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic," he added.
Ding said XiDeLang would work hard to reduce the world shortage of these PPEs with its new production lines.
Seacera Group chief executive officer Zulkarnin Ariffin said prices of all PPE had surged since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.
He added that supplies for some PPE products can take months to deliver and market manipulation is widespread, with stocks frequently sold to the highest bidder.
"We're grateful that XiDeLang supplies us with these high-in-demand protective clothing products at a reasonable price during these critical months since the outbreak of Covid19 pandemic," he said.
Zulkarnin said Seacera could help to fulfil the shortage of the products among the front-liners of Malaysian hospitals and laboratories.
"Healthcare workers rely on personal protective equipment to protect themselves and their patients from being infected and infecting others.
"Any shortage of these PPE would leave doctors, nurses and other frontline workers dangerously ill-equipped to care for Covid-19 patients, due to limited access to such supplies. Without secured supply chains, the risk to healthcare workers around the world is real.
"We cannot stop Covid-19 without protecting healthcare first. Our next plan is to capitalise on the Trade War between US and China.
"If the market conditions continue to be favourable, we may start our own production lines in Malaysia to export these PPE to United States and other countries which are badly hit by Covid-19," added Zulkarnin.