By Ranjit Singh
BURSA-listed glove makers appear to be beneficiaries of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, which has claimed 106 lives so far.
The shares of the companies spiked triggered by a demand for medical gloves due to the outbreak.
Top Glove Corporation Bhd, the world’s biggest manufacturer of gloves, registered a jump of 8.48% to RM6.01 at the midday break on Jan 28 from its Friday close, marking the highest level since nine years ago.
Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd and Supermax Corporation Bhd also trailed Top Glove with a rise of 30 sen, 27 sen and 23 sen, respectively.
The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) said its members were prepared to step up glove production to meet requirements if the coronavirus outbreak prolongs.
“While we may be having a shortage of workers and the fact that we cannot have more overtime, the industry will then have to tweak the production lines to run at optimum levels, to churn out the medical gloves to supply to the world.
“Already, there are serious ongoing procurement of gloves from the affected areas and if it becomes pandemic, the demand can be astronomical,” Margma president Denis Low said in a Jan 28 statement.
According to Low, when the H1N1 virus spread across the region, medical glove consumption jumped 17%.
“Taking a lesson from the H1N1 virus and the notion that the coronavirus can be much worse than H1N1, the rubber glove industry will certainly ramp up production to meet the demand; purely from a humanitarian stance,” Low said. – Jan 28, 2020
