Hygiene is a major concern for people and any investment in the sector can help forge a profitable enterprise.
The production of different kinds of gloves, the use of which is on the increase owing to the changes that have taken place in people’s lifestyle, is one such activity, the Persian daily, Forsat-e Emrouz reported.
“There is a substantial market for gloves in our country, which gives us the opportunity to make economic plans for the future,” says Amirhossein Salehi, the deputy head of Hezar Dastan Khazar Company that produces gloves.
Salehi noted that investment in the field can not only create many jobs, but could also give rise to big profits.
“The main raw material used in the industry is latex, which has a fixed global price. This doesn’t allow the Chinese to engage in dumping like they do in other areas to influence the market to their own advantage. Therefore, the domestic market is all ours,” he said.
The company official said the payback period in the field is only one year.
“Given the fixed price of the raw material and the low energy and workforce expenditure, Iran’s glove industry has no foreign rivals in the domestic market and the future of the business is bright and clear,” he said.
Last year, according to Salehi, only 6 billion rials (close to $175,000 at market exchange rate) of gloves were imported, which is a very insignificant sum compared to the multimillion-dollar domestic market.
“The positive aspects of the business should not give potential investors the impression that they do not need any knowledge of the production processes. In fact, expertise is something without which one cannot begin production in the field. There is a formula that needs to be reached, which is kept confidential in production units,” he said.
The businessman added that producers need to know proper marketing and ways of gaining a bigger share of the market to keep the profits coming in.
“If one is seeking constant sales and success, they have to invest in research as well. The quality of the product is ever-growing around the world, formulas must be updated to keep pace with international standards,” he said.
According to Salehi, the main hurdle is the absence of unions to support and guide producers in times of difficulty.
“There are impediments to production in the country, such as taxes and insurance. All over the world, producers are backed up with facilities and incentives, but this is not the case in our country. Despite there being good regulations, their execution is never carried out properly,” he said.
According to Saleh Norouzi, a manufacturer of different types of gloves, there are four major groups of gloves: disposable, plastic, industrial and medical.
“It is the most favorable time to enter the field. The market for each of these four groups of products will welcome new investments. I would encourage anyone who is willing and is in possession of the required capital to enter the field,” he says.
Norouzi suggests that the field of disposable gloves is a more suitable area of investment for younger and retired people in terms of the amount of capital needed and the workload.
“Experienced producers and those with higher amounts of capital can be more successful in the production of the other three groups,” he said.
“To start producing disposable gloves in a 100-square-meter plot of land with a capacity of 300 gloves per hour, one needs some 1 billion rials (about $29,000) for purchasing the machinery and another $20,500 for the overhead expenses, such as rent and raw material,” Norouzi says.
Norouzi said with $120,000, the best field of activity is the production of industrial gloves.
“Iran is a developing country and therefore there is high demand for these gloves. On the other hand, all our demand in this respect is imported from China at present. Since the production line does not require a complicated technology, investment in the area is relatively easy and can be very lucrative,” he said.
The production of dishwashing and surgical gloves is much more capital-intensive, according to Norouzi. “One needs close to $300,000 to purchase the machinery only.”
“If one has such a capital, I would recommend them to invest in the production of surgical gloves, rather than dishwashing ones. Because right now, the producers of dishwashing gloves are well capable of meeting the domestic demand and the surplus production has to be exported. Given the barriers in the way of exports, it is better not to go that path at all,” says the businessman.
