Malaysia’s Strong Ringgit Squeezes Export Reliant Glove Makers

Latex gloves on an automated production line at a Top Glove Corp. factory in Setia Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

Photographer: KG Krishnan/Bloomberg

Malaysia’s world-leading producers of latex gloves are facing tightened profit margins as the nation’s strong currency bites into dollar-denominated earnings, underscoring challenges of the nation’s exporters.

“While ringgit strength lowers systemic risk at the macro level, it comes at the expense of exporter earnings,” said Teck Yong Eng, business enterprise and analytics professor at the University of Reading Malaysia.