The rising demand of medical gloves – attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic – will see the Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAOT) setting up a rubber glove and medical glove factory soon with an annual production capacity of 1.8 billion units. RAOT Chairman, Praphan Boonyakiat, said that the factory will be located in Thailand’s Nakhon Si Thammarat province and is estimated to cost about THB 500 million (US$15.4 million). However, the state agency has yet to finalise the proportion of shareholdings of partners in the joint venture.
Boonyakiat mentioned that RAOT is also conducting a feasibility study to set up a Rubber Valley as a hub of integrated rubber production, part of its yearly THB 400 million (US$12. 4 million) research and development plan. It will bet set up at its land plot in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
In addition to the country’s production of over 46 billion units of rubber gloves per year, Boonyakiat believes Thai consumers’ use of gloves, face masks and related health products will become a new normal post-COVID-19.