THE Malaysian glove industry, the world’s biggest producer of medical gloves, is facing a manpower shortage while demand for the product soars amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers’ Association president Denis Low said automation is unable to fill in for workers.

“We are facing a crunch on workers and we seriously need more workers, both local and migrant,” Low told The Malaysian Insight.

“We believe that locals may now come forward to work thus easing the dependency on foreign workers.”

He was responding to queries on whether the industry is affected by a freeze on the intake of foreign workers. 

Glove makers have automated their manufacturing processes to a large extent but there are still segments which require human input, Low said.  

“All in all, the demand for gloves will continue to be very strong until 2021 and it is logical that manufacturers need to expand as fast as they can.”

Top Glove Corp founder Lim Wee Chai said recently it is unrealistic to expect locals to fill the vacancies in the sector, adding that such a development would reduce competitiveness.

Last year, the world’s largest glove producer employed 2,500 Malaysians and a global workforce of 19,000.

However, it needs more workers because of the high demand due to the coronavirus crisis in many parts of the world.

Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan said last month the hiring of foreign workers is suspended until year-end.

“We are not allowing the (hiring of) foreign workers until the year-end,” he said at a press conference.

He said the move is to help locals find jobs.

The government would review the situation at year-end to see if the freeze should be lifted, he said. – July 17, 2020.