Malaysia, China investors should explore opportunities in China’s medical gloves industry

Glove makers among those impacted by firmer ringgit

TIANJIN: Malaysian and Chinese investors should enter into joint ventures to tap the huge potential existing for rubber medical gloves in China, given the country’s huge population and low usage of such gloves in the healthcare industry currently.

China imported 71% or US$96mil worth of rubber medical gloves from Malaysia in 2015 and demand was expected to increase.    

“This shows that the potential is huge as China’s per capita usage of medical gloves only stood at three pairs yearly while the world average consumption is 25 pairs per year.

“If China were to increase consumption to 8 or 10 pairs of gloves yearly, the potential for Malaysian rubber gloves to make further inroads into the country is enormous,” Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong told reporters here last night after opening the Fifth Palm Oil Health and Nutrition Forum and Seminar on Managing Infection Control - Selecting the Right Gloves.

Saying that Malaysia has been a constant exporter of medical gloves to China, he added that the Chinese healthcare system placed much confidence in the quality of medical gloves exported to that country.

“This explains why we are the largest exporter of rubber medical gloves to China,” he said, adding that more than 20 Malaysian rubber gloves producers,  including Top Glove Corp Bhd, were exporting to China.

Rubber medical devices such as medical gloves, condoms and foley catheters produced by Malaysia, conformed to local and international standards and have been marketed in China for many years at competitive prices.

“China’s healthcare expenditure has been experiencing double-digit growth for the past 10 years and accounted for 5.6% of gross domestic product.

“Given China’s population and consumption patterns, there is room for promising growth in China’s healthcare market and Malaysian manufacturers should be an active partner in the development of the market in China,” he said.

China’s healthcare spending is projected to grow from US$640bil (RM2.6 trillion) currently to US$1 trillion (RM4.1 trillion) in 2020.

In the healthcare environment, appropriate medical gloves are life-saving devices that can prevent the transmission of diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis B, H1N1 and most recently the Zika virus.

“With the number of service sectors taking prevention against these diseases, therefore the usage of rubber gloves is expected to increase in the future,” said Mah.

Exports to China grew at an average of 15.2% yearly and the country has emerged as the fourth largest export market for Malaysian rubber products in 2015 from 12th placing, 10 years ago. - Bernama