Hartalega increasing rubber glove capacity as demand surges

KUALA LUMPUR—Malaysian rubber gloves manufacturer Hartalega Holdings has acquired 60 acres of land in Sepang, Selangor, on the west coast of Malaysia, to expand its production capacity in response to a growing global demand.

In an Aug. 10 stock exchange filing, the gloves maker said it purchased the land, located adjacent to its existing NGC Sepang facility, for $37.7 million.

The expansion project, named Next Generation Integrated Glove Manufacturing Complex 1.5, will sit between two ongoing NGC1 and NGC2 projects in Sepang.

With construction set to start next year, the project will see the installation of four plants with the capacity to produce 19 billion gloves annually, the stock exchange filing said.

Hartalega's existing expansion NGC1 project, set for completion by 2021, will raise the company's production capacity to by about 5 billion gloves a year for a total of 44 billion units.

The NGC2 project, underway in Banting, Selangor, ultimately will bring the total annual capacity to 95 billion pieces a year by 2027.

Hartalega said the latest expansion project was in line with the surge in demand for medical gloves across the globe due to the unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic.

With heightened safety and hygiene awareness across all industries, Hartalega said the medical glove industry is expected to undergo "a structural step-up in demand."