KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 3): Malaysian glove makers could meet the 'slight uptick' anticipated in glove demand amid the monkeypox (mpox) outbreak, said the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma).
The industry association expects higher demand following the World Health Organization's (WHO) declaration in August that mpox is a public health emergency of international concern.
“But there won’t be any shortages as our industry is always well prepared," Margma president Oon Kim Hung told the media on the sidelines of the 11th International Rubber Glove Conference and Exhibition 2024 on Tuesday.
Prior to the 2024 mpox outbreak, Margma expected demand for gloves to rise 12% to 15% annually from 2023, which saw 307.2 billion pieces sold.
In the first half of this year (1H2024), Malaysia’s rubber glove trade rebounded by 17% and reached RM6.8 billion, compared with RM5.8 billion in 1H2023, Margma data showed.
WHO’s emergency declaration on mpox in August — its second in two years — follows an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighbouring countries.
The first mpox outbreak in July 2022 took 10 months to contain. That mpox emergency was rescinded on May 11, 2023. At the time, glove makers were still reeling from the impact of market oversupply following a slowdown of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Outside of Africa, mpox has recently been reported in Sweden, Thailand, Pakistan and Jordan.
In Malaysia, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said on Monday that the country will receive mpox vaccines distributed through the Covid-19 Asean Response Fund.
Margma's Oon also urged the public to maintain a ready stock of gloves for the outbreak, instead of resorting to panic buying.