KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's rubber glove industry is expected to generate RM38 billion from exports this year, higher than the RM35.3 billion posted in 2020, according to Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma).
Margma estimated the global supply of rubber gloves to reach 420 billion pieces this year with Malaysian manufacturers providing 280 billion pieces.
Margma president Dr Supramaniam Shanmugam said 67 per cent or 23.3 billion pieces of gloves of the estimated monthly global supply would be produced by Malaysia, while the rest would come from Thailand (18 per cent), China (10 per cent) and Indonesia (three per cent).
"The global supply estimation has taken into account all viability of gloves, the existing players in the markets as well as the expanded capacity coming in 2021.
"We are looking at 420 billion pieces of gloves being available this year, which means about 380,000 gloves are being used in every single second globally," Shanmugam said at a virtual media briefing on gloves industry update and outlook for 2021 here today.
He said the export revenue was expected to continue growing, driven by robust demand globally as demand would continue to outstrip supply until 2022.
"The global demand is far higher than supply and we see this trend continuing (from last year) not only for 2021 but also going into 2022, with 13,318 gloves being used every single second. The manufacturers are working hard to expand and produce enough gloves to meet demand.
"We have taken into consideration all of the scenarios (export competition and anticipation of falling ASP) and are confident that this RM38 billion target will be achieved," he said.
Malaysia's top export destinations for rubber gloves last year were the United States with RM11.89 billion, Germany (RM2.25 billion), the United Kingdom (RM2.13 billion), Japan (RM2.02 billion) and China (RM1.57 billion).
On the impact of global vaccine development on rubber glove demand, Shanmugam said the industry had seen demand for rubber gloves growing between eight per cent and 10 per cent annually pre-Covid.
The trajectory had substantially increased to between 20 per cent and 25 per cent during the pandemic, he added.
He expects that demand for rubber gloves to grow between 12 per cent and 15 per cent annually post-Covid.
"An additional 18 billion gloves would be needed for the entire vaccination process. The new norm due to Covid-19 is expected to stay and sustain the current elevated demands.
"The growth drivers for rubber gloves include the regulatory requirements, healthcare awareness, population growth, and aging population."
Meanwhile, Shanmugam said the gloves industry was expected to see RM2 billion to RM3 billion investment injections per annum mainly in innovation, automation and aggressive research and development by manufacturers.
"There are many aspects that industry players will see before increasing their investment. Innovation, automation and aggressive research and development (R&D) will help to maintain pole position.
"Apart from increasing production capacity, we see R&D, automation and labor -related as the main focus of new investments," he added.