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KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 18 – Malaysian rubber glove manufacturers are struggling to meet the growing demand for medical gloves during the pandemic due to a shortage of workers, the industry trade association said today, adding that it could cost a lot. expensive to the country in export earnings.
The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) estimated that the industry could have lost around RM7.6 billion of revenue for Malaysia due to a shortage of labor.
Margma had revised its export earnings forecast by 36.7 percent to RM29.8 billion, and export volumes increased by 9 percent to 240 billion pieces of gloves this year.
Chairman Denis Low said Margma members face challenges in meeting demand from around the world “and the main bottleneck bottleneck is the huge shortage of workers and raw materials.”
“We beg our government to allow a reasonable number of foreign workers to work in our factories,” Low said.
Margma said that strict industry rules on overtime are also holding back productivity.
He said members “do not want to be charged with forced labor,” but migrant workers have requested to work longer hours to earn more wages and send them to their families.
“Workers are equally affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and want to earn more wages to protect their own families,” Low said.
In the past 12 months, United States Customs ordered the arrest of two Malaysian glove manufacturers, including the world’s largest Top Glove Corp, on the grounds that they were suspected of using forced labor.
Top Glove said this week that it continues to work with US authorities to lift the arrest warrant. – Reuters
