KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 10): Glove manufacturer Top Glove Corp Bhd is targeting to achieve 30% of total global market share by end-2012, said its chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai.
He said this was achievable if the latex price falls to RM6 and forex remains stable.
"We currently produce 40 billion pair of gloves annually out of the 150 billion globally. With the expansion of our new capacity, we hope to increase our market share to 45 billion or 30% of the global market share," he said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Top Glove's managing director KM Lee said latex prices would come down further and the migration of capacity from latex to nitrile gloves will slow down.
Latex price had fell from a high of RM10.99 per kg on April 11, 2011 to RM6.37 on Jan 6, 2012.
"Last year, we were at a disadvantage due to our product mix as natural rubber were expensive. However, we would be at a better position this year as natural rubber prices are falling and becoming cheaper compared to nitrile," said Lim.
Compared to its peers, Top Glove did not migrate its product mix heavily to nitrile last year.
On its upstream venture, Lim said it was still looking at lands in Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia for rubber PLANTATION [].
"We have visited about 20 lands but we want to be careful with our investment. We have the intention to plant rubber trees with a long-term view of 20 to 30 years," said Lim.
He added that it costs about RM160 million in plantation and development over 7 years for 10,000 hectare of land.
"We are looking into Cambodia as the land and labour cost are cheaper compared to Malaysia. We are in the process of applying to government and itt would take about three to six months to firm up anything," said Lim.
Meanwhile, Lee added that this year could be a good time for Top Glove to buy rubber plantation land as natural rubber prices are expected to trend down, which would result in cheaper plantation land.
He said this was achievable if the latex price falls to RM6 and forex remains stable.
"We currently produce 40 billion pair of gloves annually out of the 150 billion globally. With the expansion of our new capacity, we hope to increase our market share to 45 billion or 30% of the global market share," he said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Top Glove's managing director KM Lee said latex prices would come down further and the migration of capacity from latex to nitrile gloves will slow down.
Latex price had fell from a high of RM10.99 per kg on April 11, 2011 to RM6.37 on Jan 6, 2012.
"Last year, we were at a disadvantage due to our product mix as natural rubber were expensive. However, we would be at a better position this year as natural rubber prices are falling and becoming cheaper compared to nitrile," said Lim.
Compared to its peers, Top Glove did not migrate its product mix heavily to nitrile last year.
On its upstream venture, Lim said it was still looking at lands in Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia for rubber PLANTATION [].
"We have visited about 20 lands but we want to be careful with our investment. We have the intention to plant rubber trees with a long-term view of 20 to 30 years," said Lim.
He added that it costs about RM160 million in plantation and development over 7 years for 10,000 hectare of land.
"We are looking into Cambodia as the land and labour cost are cheaper compared to Malaysia. We are in the process of applying to government and itt would take about three to six months to firm up anything," said Lim.
Meanwhile, Lee added that this year could be a good time for Top Glove to buy rubber plantation land as natural rubber prices are expected to trend down, which would result in cheaper plantation land.
