Iconic Worldwide Berhad completed its new RM200 million PPE manufacturing facility for gloves and medical face masks here in Batu Kawan after receiving the Certificate of Completion and Compliance from the relevant authorities.
The investment in Penang sees its facility occupy approximately 5.5 acres in Batu Kawan Industrial Park which will be operational after the installation and commissioning of the glove and disposable medical face mask production lines. Once online, the facility, is expected to yield a minimum production capacity of 3.3 billion pieces of gloves and 220 million pieces of medical face masks per annum.
At the initial stage, the Group has started running four (“4”) double former glove dipping lines, and plans to increase to six (“6”) by end of the year. By the 1st quarter of 2022, a total of 12 double former glove dipping lines and 20 medical face mask production lines would be installed and commissioned.
On the prospects of the business, MD Dato’ Tan Kean Tet expects the demand for PPE to be sustainable even after the Covid-19 pandemic due to the new norm and public awareness of the need for self-protection and hygienic practices. Although the average selling price of gloves has been dropping, raw material prices has also dropped about 70%. The group is also exploring the possibility of producing nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) in Malaysia to address the market demand for the raw material.”
He explained that currently, countries such as Korea, Japan, Thailand and China are the main producers of NBR, whereas Malaysia is the largest consumer and importer globally by consuming 65% of the world’s supply of NBR. By producing it locally, glove makers will be able to ensure a consistent supply of the raw material in addition to reducing production and logistics costs.
Iconic Medicare has even diversified its medical face masks product range by producing new types of protective masks such as KF99 and KN99 respirators. These come with a 3D mask structure for better fit and double melt blown protection which improves the overall filtration performance.
Medial face masks production is expected to contribute more significantly to the Group in this financial year, whereas gloves production is only expected to contribute by the end of FY2022. The Group foresees the demand for gloves to sustain post-pandemic.
