KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s total lockdown which began today will affect the delivery of rubber gloves that are crucial for personal protective equipment (PPE) of global healthcare workers, an industry group foresees.
Malaysian Rubber Gloves Manufacturers Association (Margma) president Supramaniam Shanmugam said productivity for gloves could also be hampered “a little” by the 60% workforce on-site ruling by the government.
He said Malaysian glove manufacturers produce 67% of the global supply, and are integral to serving global demand.
However, he stressed that producers will do their best to manage the situation.
“We are assured by our members that they will cope with it to ensure no severe shortage of this important PPE item to the world,” he said in a statement.
“Current lead times on delivery will be slightly longer.”
Despite the current movement control order (MCO 3.0), Supramaniam said the government’s move to impose the lockdown, scheduled for two weeks, is “understandable”. He said the association supports this effort to curb Covid-19 cases in the country.
“We have issued several notices to our members to ensure timely periodical Covid-19 tests on staff and workers and to carry out sustainable sanitisation of the workplaces as well,” he said in a statement.
“As a further precaution, we have made representations to the authorities, wherein, we are willing to vaccinate all our employees within the glove industry, at our expense, on an urgent basis, if such vaccines can be made available.”
He said the association believed that its members are “experienced” and “matured” enough to cope with the 60% workforce order, while ensuring enough supply for global distribution.
“Margma is ever mindful that there are many countries where its members must do their best to alleviate the shortages of medical glove supply, as they are in dire need of this critical PPE item,” he said.
“We have urged our members to assist India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South American nations by providing more medical gloves to them as they are severely in need.”
The gloves sub-sector, comprising mainly medical gloves, remains the largest export revenue generator for the rubber industry in Malaysia.
The sub-sector increased nearly fourfold, or 265.7%, to hit RM17.86 billion in revenue in the first three months of this year.
Malaysian Rubber Council (MRC) chief executive Nurul Islam Mohammed Yusoff had said yesterday that overall rubber exports increased by 169.6% to RM21.84 billion in the first quarter ended March 31 from the RM8.1 billion logged in the same period a year ago. – The Vibes, June 1, 2021
