Last in a series
Currency has real impact on disposable glove prices. The currency exchange rate has been favorable to U.S. buyers in the single-use glove market the last few months, with a strong dollar trading at its highest rate in 20 years. If the dollar should stumble, glove prices are likely to feel upward pressure.
That is why it’s important to monitor international markets closely. If you hear the dollar is weakening, be prepared—and prepare your customers for what could lie ahead.
Third of four parts
Throughout 2023, due to higher interest rates in the United States, the U.S. dollar exchange rate has been strong when compared with Asian currencies—and that helped to keep glove prices lower. The dollar exchange rates are now off their highs, which will erode the buying power of U.S. buyers.
This is all the more reason to order early and fill your inventory before outside factors complicate the market. AMMEX boasts a 98%-plus fill rate on its top products, so you stand to take advantage of an excellent opportunity.
Second of four parts
Pre-pandemic, China was a minor player in the nitrile disposable glove market. Post-pandemic, it has substantially grown its overall nitrile production capacity and is expected to grow it further.
In the single-use glove industry, factories—especially in Malaysia, the world’s No. 1 glove-producing nation—continue to have utilization challenges, with some operating at as low as 20% capacity, and others in the 40%-50% range.
Now that 2024 has arrived, we’re a year further from the pandemic. Multiple trends are continuing to impact glove market conditions, from pricing of NBR (nitrile butadiene rubber) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) to logistics, energy, and coal prices.
Overall, disposable glove use in the United States continues the upward trajectory it has been on since the 1980s. The market is projected to experience healthy growth throughout the next decade, again proving to be an excellent business opportunity.
Have you ever had a situation where a customer needed a glove—and you couldn’t get the right size, or color, or mil thickness?
Maybe they were on backorder. Maybe something more complicated was involved, like labor issues at the factory or the port.
The disposable glove industry is not widely known for its dedication to customer service.
That is, of course, not a universal statement; many vendors have good, even great, relationships with customers. For the most part, though, the disposable glove industry is where one business sells a commodity to another: It’s purely transactional.
Historically, people who work on cars and trucks have not widely used disposable gloves. For generations of mechanics, hand protection simply was not a big concern.
Why? In many cases—at least until the last couple decades—they lacked the information they needed to make the right choice for safety. Heck, even today the industry is only 120 or so years old. The evolution to new ideas can be long and laborious.
During the pandemic, many distributors scrambled to find a glove vendor—while others dropped products altogether, including single-use gloves, because of the difficulty and/or cost of obtaining them.
Have you asked why you are buying from your current disposable glove vendor? Now might be the time to make sure that your organization has a clear understanding of what differentiates your suppliers.
Most disposable glove factories prefer to run their production lines almost non-stop to make money, in a concept known as factory utilization. It is common that a factory needs a 50% utilization rate to break even.
Throughout 2023, factory utilization rates for most of the disposable glove industry have been well below 50% because of massive capacity added during the pandemic and high excess inventory amounts at the end-user level.
Costs of doing business in the disposable glove market seem to be leveling off after several years of big swings. United Parcel Service and the Teamsters reached a deal to avoid a strike by getting the raises the drivers wanted. Thus, higher labor costs will likely affect the price of most goods they transport.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association also forged their own deal after months of labor strife; you can expect that agreement to eventually factor into product costs as well.
