Kumho Petrochemical Donates 2 Million Medical Latex Gloves to Daegu and Gyeongbuk

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Kumho Petrochemical announced that it will donate 2 million medical latex gloves (worth approximately 300 million KRW at current market prices) to the Korean Red Cross for the Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do regions, which are struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kumho Petrochemical aims to first provide an initial 1 million medical latex gloves to the Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do areas through the Korean Red Cross within this week, and plans to deliver a total of 2 million gloves to domestic medical institutions by March. Currently, companies in China and Malaysia supply over 90% of the global medical latex glove market, and due to the COVID-19 outbreak, worldwide demand has surged, making it difficult to secure large quantities.

This donation was made possible through a partnership between Kumho Petrochemical, the world’s leading producer of NB latex, and its manufacturing partners. Half of the quantity, 1 million gloves, was secured by combining 200,000 gloves donated free of charge by the Chinese latex glove manufacturer 'Zhonghong Borim' and 800,000 gloves additionally purchased by Kumho Petrochemical.

In January of this year, before the government’s export restrictions on masks were implemented, Kumho Petrochemical delivered 2,000 masks to employees of Zhonghong Borim in China, who were concerned about production disruptions due to COVID-19. As a gesture of gratitude for the mask support, the company expressed its willingness to donate its own medical latex gloves, which paved the way for this donation.

The other 1 million gloves were secured after the Malaysian glove manufacturer ‘Central Medicare’ expressed its willingness to cooperate. Kumho Petrochemical explained that it deeply empathized with the purpose of support from both companies and cooperated comprehensively regarding purchase prices, delivery schedules, and local customs clearance procedures.

Latex gloves, increasingly used and known as ‘nitrile gloves,’ are made from ‘NB Latex’ (Nitrile Butadiene Latex), Kumho Petrochemical’s main synthetic rubber product. NB Latex effectively replaces natural rubber, which can cause protein allergy reactions, and despite its thinness, it shows excellent tensile strength, making it widely used not only for medical gloves but also for cooking and industrial gloves.

Kumho Petrochemical has the world’s largest NB Latex production capacity of 580,000 tons per year, producing all of it at its Ulsan plant, and is actively participating in overcoming the difficulties faced by the Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do regions.