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Malaysia
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US to seize gloves from Malaysia’s Top Glove over forced labour

  • The company’s shares slumped after the Customs and Border Protection ordered personnel at American ports of entry to seize its goods made in Malaysia
  • North America accounts for 22 per cent of Top Glove’s total sales volume

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An employee works at a production line in Top Glove factory in Shah Alam, Malaysia. File photo: Reuters
Bloomberg
 Top Glove Corp.’s stock sank after the US Customs and Border Protection ordered personnel at American ports of entry to seize its gloves made in Malaysia, putting pressure on the world’s biggest gloves maker to improve its labour practices.
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The company’s shares tumbled as much as 5 per cent to the lowest level since March 3 on Tuesday in a second day of losses. It’s down 21 per cent this year, the among the biggest decliners on the main equities gauge.

The move is a blow to Top Glove and comes as Malaysia’s main industries – palm oil and gloves – come under intense scrutiny for poor labour practices. The CBP banned imports of Sime Darby Plantation, the world’s largest palm planter in December, citing allegations of forced labour. It took similar action on planter rival FGV Holdings.

The CBP Office of Trade, in consultation with the Treasury Department, said on Monday that it imposed the penalties against the Malaysian firm after having found “sufficient information to believe that Top Glove uses forced labour in the production of disposable gloves.” The order expands a directive last year banning imports from two units of the company.

The Withhold Release Order that CBP issued in July 2020 was based on reasonable but not conclusive information that multiple forced labour indicators exist in Top Glove’s production process, it said.

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“Today’s forced labour finding is the result of a months-long CBP investigation aimed at preventing goods made by modern slavery from entering US commerce,” Troy Miller, senior official performing the duties of the CBP Commissioner, said in a statement.

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