5 May 2021

The US Customs and Border Protection has seized a shipment of 3.97 million nitrile disposable gloves from Malaysia’s Top Glove Corp Bhd estimated to be worth US$518,000 (RM2.1 million), on indications they were made by forced labor [...].

CBP on March 29 issued a forced labor finding based on evidence of multiple forced labor indicators in the world’s largest medical glove maker’s production process.

It had initially banned products from two of Top Glove’s subsidiaries last July, but extended the ban to all of the manufacturer’s products made in Malaysia in March.

The indicators included debt bondage, excessive overtime, abusive working and living conditions, and retention of identity documents, the CBP said in a statement.

[...]

Top Glove said last month its glove production has been affected because of the US ban, and announced last week it had resolved all indicators of forced labour in its operations, citing a report by the ethical trade consultancy it hired.