Hartalega did the same... increase ASP from Feb.

Taken from QR:
The Group notes that customers’ glove inventory levels are moving closer to normality. However, while sales have
started to pick up, not all orders received will prove feasible due to lower price points.

As the glove industry faces losses coupled with escalating costs, the industry has started to revise selling prices upward from February 2023, which is a necessary step towards the industry’s eventual recovery and sustainability.
Raw material prices were lower compared with 2QFY2022, with the average natural latex concentrate price on a
downtrend, easing 16% to RM4.67/kg, while the average nitrile latex price also eased by 25% to USD0.86/kg.

Hartalega and TG increasing ASPs.. so is it bottomed??

Really wondered why Top glove is jumping up before results...
Hold tight for the gap

Wonder why all glove co are up today before tomorrow results...

Low utilisation with higher ASP is better than high utilisation with loss making ASP.
Best is all glove companies do the same.
Reversal coming soon?

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed over 12,000 for the second straight day Wednesday amid eased COVID-19 virus curbs.
The country reported 12,798 new COVID-19 infections, including 12 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,594,297, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Wednesday's tally is up from 12,284 the previous day and 12,288 a week earlier, according to the KDCA data.
South Korea added 12 COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 34,061. The number of critically ill patients came to 139, down from 158 the previous day.

Taipei, March 7 (CNA) Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reported 11,038 new cases of COVID-19 and 34 deaths from the disease on Tuesday.

Among the new infections, 10,816 were domestic, which represented a 9.2 percent week-on-week increase, according to the CECC.

CECC spokesperson Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) suggested the increase on Tuesday was the result of a low base of comparison a week earlier. Last Tuesday was the last day of a long weekend holiday for 228 Peace Memorial Day, during which many medical institutions were closed and people were less likely to report COVID-19 cases.

Even with the higher case number Tuesday, Lo said the pandemic was on a stable decline, and he expected daily case numbers to fall below 10,000 again this week.

To date, Taiwan has recorded 10,123,157 COVID-19 infections and 18,282 deaths from the disease since the pandemic began in early 2020. The CECC announced on Feb. 23 that it would stop releasing detailed daily information on new COVID-19 cases and deaths...

Covid-19 cases rose in week 9..

KUALA LUMPUR: The nation's Covid-19 cases rose by 5.2 per cent between February 26 to March 4 (Epidemiological Week 9) when compared to the previous week.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the number of cases in epidemiological week 9 rose to 1,438 from 1,367. Dr Noor Hisham said the new cases brought the cumulative Covid-19 cases to 5,043,626 since the pandemic hit the country in 2020.

"The average number of active cases in the country is 8,851, as of Epidemiology Week 9," he said in a statement today. Dr Noor Hisham said Covid-19 fatalities rose up to 300 per cent in the same week to eight cases from two cases. The nation's total Covid-19 death now stood at 36,965.
The number of Covid-19 recoveries in the same period reported a decline to 8.8 per cent or 1,365 cases.....

Quickly drop drop drop.. I wanna buy buy buy!

What happen today??

The firm is hopeful that selling prices for glove products have bottomed out and will attempt to raise prices in February and March 2023

GLOVEMAKER Hartalega Holdings Bhd, which fell into the red in the third financial quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 (3Q23), plans to raise prices in these two months may not be viable given the continued dumping by Chinese producers in the international market.

In a recent briefing with analysts, the world’s largest nitrile glovemaker said it was hopeful that selling prices for glove products have bottomed out and will, therefore, attempt to raise prices in February and March 2023.

.....
With the restocking coming soon, question is will the buyers pay higher prices?
Will all the glove companies raise ASPs due to higher costs and prolonged inflation?
If costs remain about the same, every bit of ASPs increase will become profits to them....

The firm is hopeful that selling prices for glove products have bottomed out and will attempt to raise prices in February and March 2023

GLOVEMAKER Hartalega Holdings Bhd, which fell into the red in the third financial quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 (3Q23), plans to raise prices in these two months may not be viable given the continued dumping by Chinese producers in the international market.

In a recent briefing with analysts, the world’s largest nitrile glovemaker said it was hopeful that selling prices for glove products have bottomed out and will, therefore, attempt to raise prices in February and March 2023.

With the restocking coming soon, question is will the buyers pay higher prices?
Will all the glove companies raise ASPs due to higher costs and prolonged inflation?
Watch show.....

China sold low quality gloves cheap. When restock starts, distributors and buyers will go for Malaysian branded gloves. Otherwise, how to raise ASPs. Margma mentioned Go ask Hartalega and Top glove mgtm..

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has modified the withhold release order (WRO) against imports of synthetic disposable gloves manufactured by YTY Group....

The agency announced on Wednesday (Feb 8) that shipments from YTY Group, which had been banned since a year ago due to forced labour allegations, will be allowed to enter the US effective immediately.

“Since the implementation of the WRO, YTY Group has taken numerous actions to remediate forced labour indicators within its manufacturing process and employee housing facilities,” the CBP said in a statement.

@Salman. ASP adjustment up is due to restocking exercises in Q2 2023. See Hartalega results update news from one analyst and also heard from my broker. Silver linings according to them is many new players exiting and old players scaling down their expansion.

Just join the game.. Reversal will be fast once all companies increase ASP

If all gloves companies dont sell cheap, ASP will go up.. They just need to be steady and cooperate.

Hartalega Management is expecting an improvement in sales volume in 4QFY23 while attempting to raise ASP at ~USD20/1k pieces in February for the first time....

Top glove, Hartalega and Kossan raising ASPs this month onward. China companies also need to do so to prevent more losses.. Reversal started?

No one care? Pride??
Be afraid when complacency set in.

‘Kraken,’ the ‘most transmissible’ COVID variant yet, could spawn even more immune-evasive variants, new study says..
BYErin Prater
January 7, 2023

The development of treatments and vaccines for new COVID variant “Kraken,” XBB.1.5, is “urgently needed” owing to its potential to spawn more dangerous variants, according to a new study.
The new variant’s ability to tightly bind to the human cells it infects is likely contributing to its rapid rise in the U.S.—and it could lend itself to the evolution of an even more dangerous variant, researchers in China wrote.

Kraken’s ability to efficiently hijack cells may allow it to spawn mutations that escape immunity more easily, the researchers said. They cited the precedent of “stealth Omicron” BA.2 offspring. When BA.2 was, in essence, forced to compete against other COVID variants when it circulated widely last spring, it spawned BA.2.75, which was more immune evasive. And BA.2.75’s spawn BA.2.75.2 was more immune-evasive yet.
Given all this, XBB.1.5 must be “closely monitored, and the development of effective neutralizing antibodies and vaccines against XBB.1.5 is urgently needed,” wrote the study’s authors, including Dr. Yunlong Cao of Peking University in Beijing.

XBB.1.5 rendered Evusheld and bebtelovimab, antibody treatments for high-risk patients, useless, according to the study. Another similar treatment, sotrovimab, “remains weakly reactive,” and yet another, SA55, “is still highly effective” against the new variant, the authors wrote.
The study’s findings were based on testing a lab-created version of XBB.1.5 against the plasma of 116 individuals who had received three doses of Chinese-manufactured COVID vaccine CoronaVac—and who had experienced a breakthrough infection from variants BA.1, BA.5, or BF.7 afterward. The study also included 10 people who had received three or four shots of a COVID vaccine, including two or more doses of Moderna’s or Pfizer’s, and who had experienced a breakthrough BA.5 infection.

The good news: Compared with its parent, XBB.1.5 is slightly less immune evasive, the researchers found. This means the new variant shouldn’t evade prior vaccines and infections any better than a variant already in circulation.
WHO commissions risk report

XBB.1.5 was behind 18% of COVID cases nationally last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday. It’s projected to cause 28% of cases this coming week, making it the second most common variant in the U.S.—and putting it on track to become the most dominant in the States, according to a Jan. 5 memo from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The variant, known colloquially as Kraken, is estimated to double the number of people it sickens every nine days, according to the ECDC’s report. Experts are eyeing it because of its ultrahigh transmissibility, with the World Health Organization (WHO) announcing this week that it had commissioned a risk assessment that outlines the new threats the variant poses, if any. The WHO requested a similar report from the CDC, since the variant is dominant in the U.S. Both reports are expected in the coming days.

Kraken is the “most transmissible subvariant detected yet,” Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19 response at the WHO, said at a Wednesday news conference. 
It’s unknown if the variant is contributing to a rise in hospitalizations in the northeast U.S., where XBB.1.5 is thriving, Van Kerkhove said.  It’s also unknown how effective new Omicron boosters are against the strain.

No panic but cannot be complacent as well..
Chinese are spreading all over to the villages and towns and many out overseas.
Be safe...

Could China's COVID-19 outbreak lead to the next variant of concern? Experts say it's not time to panic yet
By Lucy Sweeney - 9 Jan 2023

As China emerges from its COVID-zero cocoon, the country is experiencing an unprecedented surge in cases that's fuelling global concern over new variants.

With mass testing clinics shut, and the National Health Commission (NHC) no longer releasing daily figures on COVID-19 infections and deaths, there are growing doubts about the reliability of China's data.

A senior World Health Organization (WHO) official told a briefing this week that the official figures "under-represent the true impact of the disease" in terms of hospital and ICU admissions as well as deaths.

Leaked details from an internal NHC meeting last month suggested as many as 250 million people had been infected in the first 20 days of December, including 37 million in a single day. 

While previous outbreaks were largely isolated to one major region at a time, the current wave is reaching across the country, in cities from Beijing to Shanghai to Guangzhou and regions from Sichuan to Inner Mongolia...


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-09/china-covid-19-outbreak-and-variants-of-concern/101828548

Above is just the start.. with the masses of Chinese start traveling round the globe from 8th Jan, this weekend. Just be careful.

China can expect repeat Covid infections with new Omicron strains on the way, scientists say

Subvariants BQ.1.1 and XBB have been circulating abroad and could trigger a new round of mass cases in China, biochemist says
Virologist says the best strategy is to get boosted, maintain social distance, seek medical help as needed – but don’t panic

... Since abandoning its strict zero-Covid policy in early December, China has been gripped by its biggest wave of infections of the pandemic.

The dominant strains so far are the Omicron subvariants BA.5.2 and BF.7 but two others, BQ.1.1 and XBB, have been circulating in the US and Europe in the past two months. These two newer ones have shown greater ability to evade immunity from a previous infection or vaccine.

“It’s foreseeable that after the current wave peaks in China, XBB can enter the country to trigger a new round of large-scale infections,” said Cao, who has been tracking coronavirus mutations.

An even newer strain known as XBB.1.5 is now spreading quickly in some US states, especially New York, accounting for 40 per cent of the total cases according to data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

“XBB.1.5 is one of the most transmissible and immunity-invasive variants we’ve known so far,” Beijing-based news magazine People quoted Cao as saying.

“Within two weeks, it beat BQ.1.1 to become the dominant strain in New York. As XBB.1.5 is set to become the dominant one globally very soon, it deserves our close attention.”

China plans to reopen its borders on January 8, allowing people to enter the country without PCR tests or quarantine. Many worry that the move might enable new strains to come into the country.

Liu said it was not possible to predict when any of these strains – XBB, BQ.1.1, or XBB.1.5 – would hit China but mutations were to be expected.

“Actually, it’s not surprising that we’ve seen waves of different variants in the past three years because RNA viruses evolve all the time – that’s their intrinsic nature,” Liu said.

PARIS: An explosion of COVID-19 cases in China as the country lifts its zero-COVID measures could create a potential breeding ground for new variants to emerge, health experts warn.
China announced this week that incoming travellers would no longer have to quarantine from Jan 8, the latest major reversal of strict restrictions that have kept the country largely closed off to the world since the start of the pandemic.

While the country National Health Commission has stopped issuing daily case numbers, officials in several cities estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have been infected in recent weeks. Hospitals and crematoriums have been overwhelmed across the country.
With the virus now able to circulate among nearly one-fifth of the world population - almost all of whom lack immunity from previous infection and many of whom remain unvaccinated - other nations and experts fear China will become fertile ground for new variants.

Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva, told AFP that each new infection increased the chance the virus would mutate.
The fact that 1.4 billion people are suddenly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 obviously creates conditions prone to emerging variants, Flahault said, referring to the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease...

BEIJING, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID-19, UK-based health data firm Airfinity said on Thursday, nearly doubling its estimate from a week ago, as infections ripped across the world's most populous nation.

COVID infections started to sweep across China in November, picking up pace this month after Beijing dismantled its zero-COVID policies including regular PCR testing on its population and publication of data on asymptomatic cases.
Cumulative deaths in China since Dec. 1 likely reached 100,000 with infections totalling 18.6 million, Airfinity said in a statement. It says it uses modelling based on data from Chinese provinces before the recent changes to reporting cases were implemented.
Airfinity expects China's COVID infections to reach their first peak on Jan. 13 with 3.7 million cases a day...

Hope no variants will be resulted from these hyper cases..

Millions of Chinese are going overseas with border opening. Pray they will not bring deadly variants that can escape immunity all over the world that trigger may another pandemic.

With the rampant cases spiked up, pray and hope there will be not variants that are more deadly.

BEIJING, China has requisitioned medical supplies production across the country as millions struggle to obtain basic drugs and testing kits in the face of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Pharmacies in major cities have been stripped bare in the wake of the Chinese governments sudden decision to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing.

Authorities have urged those with mild symptoms to stay at home and take treatment into their own hands, leading to a run on everything from ibuprofen to rapid antigen tests.

To address nationwide shortages, more than a dozen Chinese pharmaceutical firms have been tapped by officials to help secure supplies of key drugs, a euphemism for requisitioning according to AFP interviews and local media.

At least 11 of 42 test kit makers whose products are licensed by China medical regulators have had part of their production seized by the government or received orders from the state, local reports said.

Wiz Biotech, a rapid antigen test maker in the southern city of Xiamen, confirmed to AFP on Thursday that all kits they produce will be requisitioned by the local government.

In Beijing, authorities have sent additional staff to six manufacturers of antigen kits to help them increase production , the municipality said on its website.

Across China, millions are struggling to get hold of basic medical supplies.

My whole family is sick and I cant buy medicine for the fever, Chengdu resident Yanyan, who gave only her first name, told AFP.

On Thursday, a dozen pharmacies around the country reported fever medicine shortages.

We havent had any for a week or two at all. I still have a few painkillers left, but very few, a pharmacist in the northwestern region of Ningxia told AFP...

BEIJING: China's capital Beijing posted a record number of new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday (Nov 22), with the city hunkering down under a tightening choke hold of restrictions that have sent schools online, closed many restaurants and forced employees to work from home.

More than 28,000 new infections were reported nationwide - nearing the record high since the pandemic began - with Guangdong province and the city of Chongqing logging more than 16,000 and 6,300 cases respectively, health authorities said.
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New cases in Beijing have also jumped in recent days, more than doubling from 621 last Sunday to Tuesday's 1,438 - a pandemic record for the city.
(Graphic: AFP/John Saeki)

The last major economy still welded to a zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy, China enforced snap lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines to control outbreaks to great success in the earlier stages of the pandemic.

But the latest spiralling outbreak is testing the limits of that playbook, with officials keen to avoid citywide lockdowns like Shanghai's two-month ordeal in April, which marred the finance hub's economy and international image.

Nomura analysts said on Tuesday their in-house index estimated that localities accounting for about 19.9 per cent of China's total gross domestic product were under some form of lockdown or curbs, up from 15.6 per cent last Monday.

Investors had hoped that China's more targeted enforcement of zero-COVID curbs could herald more significant easing, but many analysts are cautioning against being too bullish.

Three elderly Beijing residents with underlying diseases died from COVID-19 over the weekend, authorities said, marking China's first deaths from the disease since May.

BEIJING: China's capital Beijing posted a record number of new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday (Nov 22), with the city hunkering down under a tightening choke hold of restrictions that have sent schools online, closed many restaurants and forced employees to work from home.

More than 28,000 new infections were reported nationwide - nearing the record high since the pandemic began - with Guangdong province and the city of Chongqing logging more than 16,000 and 6,300 cases respectively, health authorities said.

The last major economy still welded to a zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy, China enforced snap lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines to control outbreaks to great success in the earlier stages of the pandemic.

But the latest spiralling outbreak is testing the limits of that playbook, with officials keen to avoid citywide lockdowns like Shanghai's two-month ordeal in April, which marred the finance hub's economy and international image.

Nomura analysts said on Tuesday their in-house index estimated that localities accounting for about 19.9 per cent of China's total gross domestic product were under some form of lockdown or curbs, up from 15.6 per cent last Monday.

Guangzhou to build 250,000 quarantine beds as China COVID cases rise
By Bernard Orr and Albee Zhang

BEIJING, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is setting up makeshift hospitals and quarantine sites with capacity for nearly 250,000 beds for COVID-19 infections, officials said on Thursday, as cases across the country hit their highest level since April.

China is battling coronavirus outbreaks in numerous major cities, including Chongqing and the capital Beijing, while it takes steps to try to ease the burden of its strict zero-COVID policy, which has caused severe economic damage and widespread frustration nearly three years into the pandemic..

China usage will be very high.
Other Asian countries cases are also at record high.
Europe and USA will be hit by XBB soon.
Don't sweep Covid under the carpet and think lives are cheap.

After correction, fly!

Its all about ASP for glove companies.
Loss, Profits or a lot more profits depends the final ASPs period.
Should be up based on price trend.....

Any idea when Supermax report results?
Good news coming??

More news..

China reports 20,199 new COVID cases for Nov 15 vs 17,909 a day earlier

SHANGHAI, Nov 16 (Reuters) - China reported 20,199 new COVID-19 infections for Nov. 15, of which 1,623 were symptomatic and 18,576 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday.

That compared with 17,909 new cases a day earlier 1,661 symptomatic and 16,248 asymptomatic, which China counts separately. Excluding imported infections, China reported 20,059 new local cases of which 1,568 were symptomatic and 18,491 were asymptomatic, up from 17,772 a day earlier.

There were no new deaths, unchanged from a day earlier, keeping fatalities at 5,226.

As of Tuesday, mainland China had confirmed 277,043 cases with symptoms. China' s capital Beijing reported 197 symptomatic and 174 asymptomatic cases, compared with 303 symptomatic and 159 asymptomatic the previous day, local government data showed.

News you need..

COVID-19 tracker: Tokyo logs 10,114 new coronavirus cases
The daily number of new coronavirus infections in Tokyo came to 10,114 on Wednesday, rising by 1,102 from a week before and topping 10,000 for the second day in a row. Six new coronavirus-linked deaths were reported in the capital.

The seven-day average of new cases in Tokyo rose 24.3% from a week earlier to 8,020.9, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The number of severely ill patients under the metropolitan government&rsquo s criteria fell by one from the previous day to 22.

Hokkaido logged a fresh record high of 11,112 new cases on Wednesday, a day after its daily tally exceeded 10,000 for the first time ever. The prefecture reported 23 deaths among COVID-19 patients.

On Tuesday, the daily number of new COVID-19 cases in Japan came to 105,188, the first figure above 100,000 since Sept. 14, fueling concerns about an eighth wave of COVID-19 infections in the country.

The daily number increased by about 21,900 from a week before. Meanwhile, 126 new deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported across the country, and the number of severely ill COVID-19 patients rose by 22 from the previous day to 257.