KUALA LUMPUR – While pharmaceutical companies are gaining momentum on positive Covid-19 vaccination news, Top Glove Corporation Bhd expects demand for examination gloves to double when the vaccines are ready by year-end.
Its chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai said that the glove business remained good and healthy over the long term, with the company's share price depending on the earnings and performance.
“Our share price has been doing well for the past 11 months. Just recently, we have had some hiccups and hope it will be temporary and be back to normal.
“Examination gloves are needed to inject vaccines. The world needs to produce seven billion vaccines and will need seven billion pairs of gloves,” he said during a Covid-19 update press conference today.
Despite the expected increase in demand, the world’s largest rubber glove manufacturer has to close some of its facilities due to the high Covid-19 infection rate among its workers.
Top Glove’s 20 facilities are temporarily closed with eight production lines still operating, thus reducing its production by between 10% and 20%.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Saravanan Murugan previously said it was due to poor living conditions at the workers’ dormitories, which was denied by Lim.
“We welcome him to visit us again, because since the minister’s visit, our (housing) condition has continued to improve. This is because we poured in more money to improve facilities and we wanted to do it quickly.
“So it came as a big surprise when such comments were made. We need to clarify with the ministry to see what are the areas we did not do correctly and how we can improve,” he said. – Bernama, November 25, 2020
