The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) has urged the government to provide tax breaks in Budget 2015 to encourage players in the rubber glove sector to be more aggressive in implementing more automation and the creation of proprietary technology.
According to Margma, such measures by the industry would support the government’s call to reduce dependency on foreign labour as well as to implement the minimum wage policy.
In a statement to the media last week, Margma said it hopes the Budget 2015 will include reinvestment allowance for industry players involved in the upstream and downstream sectors of the rubber glove industry.
Malaysian rubber glove manufacturers, some of the largest in the world at present, are now reinvesting their pro- fits in Malaysia via the expansion of factories and in automating the manufacturing processes.
Margma said the capacity expansion and technology investments will increase domestic investments and help grow the Malaysian economy.
Malaysia exports rubber gloves to more than 190 countries in the world. The industry earned a total RM10.53 billion in total export revenue in 2013.
Margma is expecting the total export revenue to maintain at a similar level in 2014.
Total export of rubber gloves from Malaysia amounted to RM5.31 billion in the first-half (1H) of 2013 and RM5.16 billion in the 1H of 2014.
The slight decline was due to the decrease in raw materials prices. The drop in value comes despite a 29% rise in the quan- tity of