Valutek Blog

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Seizing Cleanroom Glove Imports

Written by Greg Heiland | January 13, 2022

Effective December 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced they will ban imports of all disposable gloves produced in Malaysia by a group of companies collectively known as Brightway Group from all U.S. ports of entry.

In November, U.S. CBP issued a ban detaining all disposable gloves produced in Malaysia by a group of companies collectively known as Smart Glove from all U.S. ports of entry. 

In October, U.S. CBP issued a ban detaining all disposable gloves produced by Supermax Corporation Bhd’s subsidiaries, including Maxter Glove Manufacturing, Maxwell Glove Manufacturing, and Supermax Glove Manufacturing, from entering the U.S.

In fact, these are just three of five major bans that have been imposed in the past 15 months alone. The CBP has taken these actions for suspected violations of labor practices, including forced labor and possible child labor occurring at Malaysian manufacturing sources.

Since Malaysian factories produce over 70 percent of the world’s Nitrile cleanroom gloves, chances are you’re affected.

  • Have your cleanroom gloves been affected by the CBP bans as a result of labor practice violations abroad?
  • Is your incumbent glove or one you’ve substituted still compliant with your internal quality specifications?
  • Are you having difficulty sourcing your specified cleanroom glove under the current unstable market conditions?

 

Valutek is and has been a leading privately held manufacturer of controlled environment products since 1988.

These recent CBP announcements threaten your facility’s consistent supply of quality gloves manufactured per the specification that was in place when you qualified your incumbent glove.

Valutek can help. We’ll help you determine whether your cleanroom glove’s quality and availability are “at risk.”

Valutek will do the research to help ensure that your sourcing strategy remains resilient and redundant. 

 

Tell us about the product you are concerned about

 

Valutek’s success in the critical environment market is based on its multigenerational commitment to “do the right thing.”