The world’s largest latex glove maker, Top Glove Corp, is closing over a dozen factories and warning that deliveries will suffer from delays after thousands of its workers tested positive for the coronavirus.
Top Glove of Malaysia, which accounts for about a quarter of the latex glove market worldwide, warned in a statement on Tuesday that the government where the company is based has ordered 28 of the firm’s factories to close while workers are screened and quarantined.
This follows the manufacturer closing 16 factory buildings and reducing capacity at 12 more of its 47 factories in total, which are located in Malaysia, China, Thailand, and Vietnam, and employ about 16,000 people.
“To minimise the impact on our customers, we are allocating sales orders to unaffected factories and rescheduling deliveries where possible,” Top Glove Corp of Malaysia said in a statement, according to The Hill.
About two-thirds of all the latex gloves in the world are made in Malaysia, according to the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association. The two other major glove making companies, Hartalega Holdings and Supermax Corp, most likely lack the production capacity to cover the delays.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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