Global demand for rubber-based products soar
View(s):Governments across the world are urgently trying to acquire and store critical medical supplies such as masks and gloves as frontline doctors and nurses readying to battle COVID-19 pandemic face shortages.
This pandemic is forcing many of the biggest makers in this part of the world to run factories around the clock to meet demand and Sri Lanka isn’t an exception.
This is the reason behind the local rubber manufacturing and export industry receiving the nod from the government to resume operations immediately.
Sri Lanka Association of Manufacturers and Exporters of Rubber Products (SLAMERP) Director General Rohan Masakorala told the Business Times that the association had met with the Presidential Taskforce seeking permission to resume the industry during the curfew. “There is high demand in Sri Lanka and globally for surgical gloves, medical gloves and protective gloves. Our manufacturers have many orders for these type of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE),” Mr. Masakorala said noting that rubber manufacturers and the supply chains linked to it are allowed to start work immediately with necessary facilitation of curfew passes. He added that some firms are not labour-intensive but machine-intensive which makes it easier for them to start operations immediately.
Natural and synthetic rubber gloves are used by healthcare workers and food service workers, and in industrial settings. Protective equipment for healthcare workers is critical to the fight against coronavirus. In early March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged businesses and governments to act fast to increase supplies of protective equipment, including gloves, medical masks, and respirators, for healthcare workers on the frontlines combating COVID-19. To meet rising global demand, the WHO estimates manufacturers to increase production by 40 per cent.
Sri Lanka has a real opportunity in this space. Glove manufacturing and exporting industry of Sri Lanka is placed as one of the top manufactures of the world which also contributes more than 5 per cent of global demand, according to the Sri Lanka Export Development Board, the apex state organisation for the development and promotion of exports.
Sri Lankan glove manufacturers and suppliers hold latex to be perhaps the best raw material to manufacture certain products such as surgical gloves. The major rubber export markets are the US, Germany, Belgium, Italy and the UK. The rubber and rubber-based products sector fetched US$600 million in value last year.
(DEC)