Factories have reopened and production is picking up in major manufacturing areas of Southeast Asia as COVID-19 cases have dropped in recent weeks. This has eased some of the supply-chain constraints that companies blame for lost sales.
While this does not mean that makers of disposable gloves are back to full production yet, it does hint that the industry is trending in the right direction. In Malaysia, which produces nearly 80% of the world’s disposable gloves, efforts to transition its workforce from imported foreign labor to hiring local workers and emphasizing automation are well under way.