According to Thai media reports on January 29, with the introduction of the relevant laws prohibiting the use of rubber gloves in the United States, Illinois also announced to become the eighth state to enforce the laws. This may affect the rubber glove market worth 21 billion baht. Sri Trang Gloves (Thailand) Public Company Limited (STGT) said that this did have an impact on the market, but it was not very serious, because the company's main export product was synthetic rubber gloves. The Thailand Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association also said that the rubber glove market experienced a problem of full inventory and slow order in the first quarter of this year, and the new rubber glove enterprises were even more cold, and they sold their stocks to protect themselves.

As a new generation of export products, rubber gloves achieved leapfrog growth during the epidemic and created a lot of income for export business. In 2022, the value of rubber gloves with the United States as the main market was 21.619 billion baht.

Rubber gloves are prohibited in the United States

According to the Chicago Office for the Promotion of International Trade, the United States Illinois legislation prohibits the use of latex gloves made of natural rubber materials in the food service and health care industries.

It has been the first to ban rubber gloves in the food service and emergency medical services (EMS) since January 1 this year, and plans to extend the ban to the general medical service industry on January 1 next year, because more than 3 million people in the United States are allergic to rubber products.

Illinois is the eighth state in the country to implement the law. Since 2019, seven states and one city have considered adopting legislation to prohibit the use of rubber gloves in the food service and medical service industries, including Arizona, California, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Ohio, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Boston

STGT: US ban has little impact, and demand will recover

Ms. Zalya, president of Sri Trang Gloves (Thailand) Public Company Limited (STGT) Co., Ltd., said that the use of rubber gloves prohibited by the United States law may have some impact, but the impact is small, because it is only implemented in some states.

In addition, rubber gloves sold to the United States market are mainly nitrile or synthetic rubber gloves, and most of the company's production machines can produce natural rubber and synthetic rubber at the same time, so as to adapt to market changes in time.

She said that we will launch non-detectable protein gloves in the US market to replace ordinary natural rubber gloves, and it is expected that the export volume will increase this year. Since the fourth quarter of last year, demand has begun to pick up.

STGT's performance in the fourth quarter of last year showed a total sales volume of 19.671 billion units, an increase of 11.4%, revenue of 39.265 billion baht, a decrease of 52.8%, and operating profit of 23.921 billion baht, a decrease of 85.9%; Last year's average annual output was 48 billion pieces.

Thailand mainly exports nitrile gloves

The president of Thailand Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association, Verash, said that the United States has promulgated laws prohibiting the use of rubber gloves for many years, but this has not affected Thailand's exports. Although the United States market is the largest export market, because 90% of Thailand's export products are nitrile gloves, and only 10% are rubber gloves. In addition, manufacturers from other countries also export to the United States, including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam or Indonesia, and also mainly export nitrile gloves.

He said that rubber and nitrile gloves are totally different target segments, and each type has a clear function. The United States market is not the only prohibited market, and the European Union also prohibits the use of rubber gloves. But most of these markets mainly use nitrile rubber gloves. At the same time, global exporters also mainly produce nitrile gloves.

Export prices show a downward trend

The price of rubber gloves in the world market is falling, mainly due to a large number of stocks. Some buyers who have goods are borrowing money for inventory, so they must sell as soon as possible to reduce losses. For example, the price is very high when buying, but very low when selling; Many new manufacturers around the world have built factories during the period of rapid growth of market demand, but the production line is not very long and can not bear the impact of the slowdown of market demand. Therefore, the release of inventory is accelerated, which makes the price of rubber gloves in the international market continue to decline since last year, but it is expected to gradually restore balance.

In the first quarter of this year, the price of new orders decreased at different rates. Some people may increase the price, while others may maintain the original price or some must reduce the price to compete; As for the situation of dumping, most of them are foreign dealers, mainly for the purpose of separating from this industry. In general, the market is still in the adjustment period, and it needs to wait for 6 months or even 5-6 years.

However, for the old manufacturers that have been operating for 20-30 years, the problem should not be serious, because most of the principal has been paid off. However, if it is a new enterprise that has just operated rubber gloves during the epidemic in the past 2-3 years, it is likely to have problems and have to leave the industry because of the low rate of return. Unless the industrial chain can wait for 15-20 years, because this time period belongs to the adjustment cycle.

Investment in upgrading and innovation should not be too high

The current production capacity of Thailand is about 60-70 billion pieces per year, compared with 30-40 billion pieces before the outbreak of the epidemic. The main export markets are the United States and Europe, as well as secondary markets such as China, South Korea, ASEAN and India, but the overall share is less than the primary market. At present, major manufacturers in the world are constantly developing and producing innovative technologies for rubber gloves.

Including ingredients, chemicals, weight of materials used and versatility. Most customers are still the original customers, including hospitals, catering service enterprises and airlines. Therefore, if the price of developing innovative products is very expensive, the market may not accept it, so we should make targeted adjustments.

Thailand and Malaysia started manufacturing rubber gloves at the same time. Thailand's development may not be so outstanding, but it has been developing the rubber industry into one of the pillars of the country, so relevant policies are needed to promote it; At present, the raw material of rubber gloves is still domestic. The government has also issued a policy to encourage the use of rubber, that is, to implement a tax reduction plan for downstream rubber users. At present, the price of the rubber market remains stable.

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