Top Glove, World's Largest Glove Manufacturer, Warns of Potential Shortage

Malaysia’s Top Glove Corporation, which makes one in every five gloves globally, expects a product shortage as demand from Europe and the United States spikes because of the widening coronavirus outbreak is exceeding its capacity, Reuters reports.

The company has extended shipping times to cope with the demand surge, Executive Chairman Lim Wee Chai told Reuters by phone on Friday.

Lim said orders received in the past few weeks, mainly from Europe and the United States, were almost double the company’s production capacity.

Top Glove can produce 200 million natural and synthetic rubber gloves a day.

– Some customers panic order; normally they order 10 containers a month but now they suddenly increase to 20 containers. Definitely there is a shortage. They order 100% more, we can only increase 20% so there is a shortage of about 50% to 80% – he said.

The exceptional buying momentum could last another three months but orders are expected to remain strong for up to nine months even as demand from Asian markets has started to slow slightly, Lim said.

The World Health Organization warned on Friday that the “chronic global shortage of personal protective gear” is among the most urgent threats to the virus containment efforts, Reuters adds.

Top Glove

World Health Organization

Lim Wee Chai

gloves

coronavirus

covid 19

natural rubber

synthetic rubber

equipment shortage

shortage of gloves