Throughout the past 6 months, there have been increases in the price and restrictions on the availability of supply for all examination gloves, Nitrile, Latex and Vinyl. At SSS Australia we have been working to provide a stable supply of gloves for Medical Centres, Healthcare and allied Professionals and Aged Care facilities.
To ensure supply of examination gloves, we have engaged with 4 major suppliers and through this process, we have been able to maintain adequate stocks (albeit of different brands at times) to meet the ongoing customer requirements and provide reasonable and just prices for the available stock.
The price increases of examination gloves have been contributed to by a number of factors
- significant increase in international demand for gloves from the healthcare sector and also from the non-healthcare sector;
- manufacturers at full capacity, the manufacturers predominantly located in Malaysia and China have been manufacturing at full capacity to maintain supply;
- increases in the cost of raw materials and packaging;
- labour force and logistics restrictions due to workplace restrictions and infections relating to Covid-19
Prices have risen each month as there continues to be more demand worldwide than the available manufacturing capacity, working with our panel of suppliers we receive monthly price updates and have been advised that price stability is more likely to return to the market after mid-2021 and as this occurs this will reflect in our glove prices to all customers.
Currently, we have adequate stock of most gloves and can provide supply at competitive prices (relevant to the market conditions), and if you would like to order larger quantities of gloves please talk with one of our team members to review your requirements and how we can assist.
We have provided links below that further explain the supply difficulties individual manufacturers are experiencing worldwide that is affecting the supply of examination gloves.
SSS Australia customers can find the current pricing and availability of gloves on this page of our website.
Alternatively, please speak with your Personal Account Manager, or call our customer service team on 1800 777 518.
The international limited availability of gloves has been reported on the FDA Medical Device Shortage List since September 2020. Referring to several of our glove vendor-partners, the consensus points to no change in this for at least the next 6-12 months [
FDA, 2020].
In mid-November, it was widely reported that Top Glove, the largest manufacturer of rubber gloves worldwide, halted production in over half of its facilities after more than 2,000 employees tested positive for COVID-19 [
Reuters/ABC, 2020]. Top Glove is responsible for the production of a quarter of the global latex glove market.
Hartalega COVID-19 Preventative MeasuresHartalega Price Increase Notice November 2020Mun Australia - Pricing Announcement November 2020