Supermax estimates increased Malaysian glove exports from US-China trade tiff

Malaysian rubber gloves manufacturer, Supermax Corporation (Supermax), expects its exports to increase by 10%, largely due to the boost in sales of medical gloves in the ongoing US-China trade war.

According to Group Managing Director, Datuk Seri Stanley Thai Kim Sim, the US government had imposed a 10% tariff on medical gloves made in China, to take effect on Sept 1, 2019. Supermax’s exports to the US currently account for 30% of its total exports.

Thai also said that Supermax’s industrial glove market, which currently accounts for about 10% of its total exports, is set to grow as non-medical gloves made in China have also been slapped with a 25% import duty by the US government back in May 2019.

However, this has created an opportunity for Malaysian manufacturers, including Supermax, to increase their market presence in the US.

Supermax has allocated RM1.1 billion (US$263 million) in capital expenditure for the next 4.5 years. The company aims to increase its production to 27 billion tonnes by December 2020 and plans to boost it to 44.1 billion tonnes by 2024. Supermax’s three new plants, to be completed by Q1 2020, Q2 2021 and Q3 2022, respectively, will supplement production.

As for the financial year ended June 30, 2019, Supermax reported a net profit increase of RM123.75 million from the RM106.66 million registered in the same period a year ago, while revenue was up at RM1.49 billion from RM1.30 billion.

Thai announced: “We want to continue to reward our shareholders and we are going to adopt certain business strategies. We will announce it on Bursa Malaysia.”