TOP Glove is set to increase glove prices by up to 5%, citing higher labour costs for such move.
The minimum wages law that has taken effect early January mandates an RM900 minimum wage for workers in the Peninsular Malaysia ; and RM 800 for Sabah and Sarawak-based workers.
For Top Gloves, which employs about 9,000 workers in its factories in Malaysia, this means that an RM 1,200 a month salary (of a foreign worker doing overtime) will be readjusted to RM 1,800, according to its chairman, Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai.
Following the wages policy, raising glove prices is a solution the company is taking to maintain profits.
Top Glove is reputed to be the world’s largest glove maker in terms of capacity, accounting for 30% of the global market share. In FY 2012, it has sold an estimated 30 billion gloves and expects to increase the sales by 10-15% this FY 2013.(RJA)
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