Malaysia rubber gloves sector attracts another new producer

Singapore – Singapore-listed real estate group, Aspen Holdings Ltd is venturing into the rubber gloves business as part of a strategy to “diversify” its existing businesses. 

The group’s wholly-owned subsidiary Aspen Vision All Sdn. Bhd (AVA) and investment holding firm CMY Capital have agreed to manufacture and distribute rubber gloves, Aspen said in an SGX filing 12 Aug. 

In connection with the proposed diversification, AVA has acquired a dormant company known as Aspen Glove from the group’s president and CEO Dato’ Murly Manokharan, the Aspen announcement said.

The Malaysian group said it had made an initial investment of RM105 million (€21 million) for phase 1A of the project, which is expected to produce 1.1 billion pieces of gloves per annum from the third quarter of 2021.

The rationale behind the move, said the group, is the growing demand on the back of Covid-19 pandemic.

“Despite most existing glove makers in Malaysia running at full capacity, there are still production backlogs of 4–6 months in fulfilling orders,” it said in its announcement.

Hence, it said, the group believes that the demand for gloves is likely to remain firm till end 2021, especially from the healthcare, F&B establishments, as well as the hospitality and travel sectors.