Production of Synthetic Gloves in China: Focus on Nitrile and Plastic (March 2021)

36 pages. This report examines the ecosystem and growth of the synthetic glove manufacturing industry in China, with a focus on synthetic rubber nitrile and plastic gloves. China has been the world's largest producer of plastic gloves. However, growing environmental concerns, alongside product performance are driving users away from plastic gloves. On the other hand, nitrile gloves are gaining ground in recent years. In comparison to natural rubber, China has relatively less reliance on imports for nitrile rubber, thereby possibly seeing increasing venture into nitrile gloves as demand increases globally. A study conducted by MRC in 2017 on the cost of manufacturing nitrile gloves revealed that China was as competitive as Malaysian medium sized players. Major players in China's glove industry have already taken the lead with aggressive expansion and investments into nitrile glove production. The growing shift in demand towards synthetic rubber (gloves in major developed markets, as evident in the upward trend in the US import of SR gloves, would further attract more investments into the production of SR gloves (mainly nitrile). Given the increasing availability of nitrile raw material in the country, coupled with the recent spike in demand for gloves in times of the covid 19 outbreak which pushes the glove prices up, more Chinese players are venturing into glove production.