KUALA LUMPUR: The lifting of the ban on Supermax Corporation Bhd's gloves exports to the US by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leaves Brightway Group as the sole Malaysia-based glove maker left under the ban.
According to the US CBP's website, Brightway Group's Withold Release Order (WRO), which was imposed in December 2021, is still active.
YTY Industry Holdings Sdn Bhd (YTY Group), including YTY Industry Sdn Bhd, Green Prospect Sdn Bhd, and GP Lumut had their WRO lifted on February 8, 2023 while Smart Glove had its withdrawn in April this year.
The WRO on Brightway Group gives U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel at all U.S. ports of entry the authority to detain all disposable gloves produced by the companies.
In its latest financial result for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2023 (Q4FY23), Supermax said that it had made huge strides made in improving its human resource policies and procedures including actively reaching out to all former workers for the purpose of remediation. The Group has thus far paid out a total of RM 41.2 million in remediation payments to existing and former workers.
The company's share price hit a four-month high of 89 sen today, after news broke.
For the past month, the company had traded within 76 sen and 83 sen.
Tradeview Capital Sdn Bhd vice president Tan Cheng Wen said despite the removal of the ban, which is positive for Supermax, the sector's current operating environment is still hindered and plagued by a large oversupply.
"Many glovemakers and sell-side analysts have echoed the sentiment that the glove market will only recover in the second half of 2024 - hence we should expect to see meaningful uplift late next year onwards," he told the Business Times.
In a statement on Tuesday, the US CBP stated that it has allowed imports of disposable gloves manufactured by Supermax and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, with immediate effect. The CBP had issued a withhold release order (WRO) against the glove maker and its wholly-owned units, Supermax Glove Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, Maxwell Glove Manufacturing Bhd and Maxter Glove Manufacturing Sdn Bhd for alleged forced labour.