US-China trade war benefits local rubber glove industry - Supermax

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 ( Bernama) -- Rubber gloves manufacturer, Supermax Corporation Bhd, is expecting its exports to the United States (US) to increase to 40 per cent from the current 30 per cent, boosted by sales of medical gloves due to the ongoing US-China trade war.

Founder and president Datuk Seri Stanley Thai Kim Sim said this was because the US government had imposed a 15 per cent tariff on medical gloves made in China starting from Sept 1.

"The US-China trade war has and will continue to disrupt the global supply chain, and this augurs well for the company," he told a media briefing after announcing the company's full year results here today.

Thai said Malaysia is one of the countries benefiting from the trade tiff between the two economic giants. 

He also said that Supermax's industrial glove market -- which currently accounts for about 10 per cent of its total exports -- is also set to grow as non-medical gloves made in China have also been slapped with a 25 per cent import duty by the US government back in January 1, 2019.

"This is an unfortunate event but it also created an opportunity for Malaysian manufacturers to increase their market presence in the US," he said.

On capacity, he said the company aims to increase its production to 27 billion pieces by December 2020 from the current 21.75 billion pieces, and plans to boost it to 44.1 billion pieces by 2024. 

Supermax has allocated RM1.1 billion in capital expenditure for the next 4.5 years.

On its expansion plan, he said the company’s new plant in Meru, Klang, namely Block A of plant #12, will be completed by the first quarter of 2020 (Q1 2020) and Block B will be completed by the second half of 2020.

The company also has three new plants, Plant #13, #14 and #15, which will be completed by Q3 2021, Q4 2022 and Q1 2024, respectively.

"We want to continue to reward our shareholders and we are going to adopt certain business strategies. We will announce it on Bursa Malaysia," he said.

For the financial year ended June 30,2019, Supermax Corp's net profit rose to RM123.75 million from the RM106.66 million registered in the same period a year ago, while revenue was up at RM1.49 billion versus RM1.30 billion previously.

-- BERNAMA