KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC), through the Malaysian Rubber Council (MRC), is always drafting and implementing short-, medium- and long-term plans to maintain Malaysia’s global leadership in the production of rubber gloves.
Minister Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said that under the short- and medium-term plans, MRC will continue to carry out promotional activities overseas, such as participating in international trade expositions together with industry players, organise trade missions and educational seminars, business matching and advertising in international media.
“These promotional activities not only include leading rubber glove markets such as the United States and Europe but also cover most populous countries with high potentials like China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil and Russia,” he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat (lower house of Parliament) Thursday.
He was replying to a question from Wong Chen (PH-Subang) who wanted to know about the policies planned by the ministry to strengthen Malaysia’s global leadership in rubber glove production.
Through the long-term plan, Mohd Khairuddin said the ministry via MRC will focus on boosting investment activities by industry players and empower the downstream rubber industry to improve the competitiveness and value of rubber glove exports from Malaysia.
These include offering incentives for automation and green technology launched in 2019 totalling RM20 million.
To-date, about RM7 million has been approved for 14 projects including procurement of automatic rubber glove packaging, latex dipping and automatic glove stripping machines for automation incentives.
He also said that an industry relations fund was set up to promote cooperation between researchers and industry players to boost research and development and innovation in the rubber downstream sector.
To date, Mohd Kharuddin said nine companies including Mah Sing Group Bhd, AT Systematization Bhd and Hong Seng Bhd have announced plans to set up new rubber glove factories in Malaysia.
In addition, at least five existing glove companies will expand their respective capacities, such as Top Glove Corp Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Supermax, he said.
The ministry also encourages investment in new rubber glove factories in cooperation with the state government such as in Terengganu where a local rubber glove factory is having talks with a state government-linked company to set up a plant in Kerteh, Terengganu.
— NNN-BERNAMA
