Malaysia's rubber and rubber products exports surged 150 percent to 44.43 billion ringgit (about 10.48 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year from 17.77 billion ringgit a year ago, due to the strong demand of rubber gloves amid the COVID-19 pandemic, official data showed Wednesday. The Malaysian Rubber Council (MRC), a unit under the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) in Malaysia, said in a statement that the downstream rubber products exports, making up the bulk 89.7 percent of the total rubber industry exports, surged by 180.2 percent year on year to 39.87 billion ringgit, driven by strong performance in the latex goods in particular gloves products. Latex goods, which consisted of rubber gloves and other latex products, accounted for 93.9 percent of the total exports of rubber products while dry rubber products that comprised tyres, general rubber goods, industrial rubber goods, footwear and inner tubes, accounted for the remaining 6.1 percent.
The MRC said the demand for rubber gloves is projected to remain strong as the threat of the COVID-19 virus remains prevalent with emergence of new variants, whilst effect from vaccination programs on sustaining low cases remain inconclusive even in the advanced countries in Europe. The MRC estimated the global demand for rubber gloves in volume terms to maintain a double-digit growth of between 12 percent and 15 percent in 2021. The global per capita consumption of rubber gloves is expected to increase to 25 pairs in 2021 driven by higher usage of gloves in Malaysia's major export markets such as the United States and Europe as well as large emerging markets particularly in the Asian region, it added. "The country's rubber glove industry will maintain its positive momentum and exports are expected to reach a new high for the full year of 2021," it said.