DASH is committed to keeping you up to date with information that may be impacting your business and disposable glove procurement. Glove manufacturers and suppliers face major challenges causing sporadic shortages and increased prices. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are seeing a tremendous world-wide spike in demand, a change in market forces and distribution challenges. Please find a short Q & A below to your most frequently asked questions.

Outside of increased demand, why are we seeing shortages and increased prices?
Nearly every country faced some sort of shut down due to Covid-19. Glove production virtually halted during this time and while many factories are reopening, production is slow. For example, factories in China were locked down for at least 60 days, halting 95% of the world’s vinyl glove production. At reopening, staffing capacities were reduced up to 50% to keep workers safe. Most Latex and Nitrile gloves are produced in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia and these factories face additional challenges obtaining raw materials and packaging. This poses a huge obstacle to even the leading manufacturers capable of expanding production lines. Not to mention, expansion comes with increased costs. Some countries are also requiring part of the quantity produced to go for domestic use which limits exports adding to sporadic shortages. There are shortages of raw materials such as the butadiene needed to produce Nitrile gloves. There are only a handful of major companies worldwide producing this essential raw material and until 2020 they have never been required to increase output so massively and so quickly.

How is DASH responding?
We are continuously monitoring inflating costs and working with our vendors to reduce the impact. Until the glove industry stabilizes, DASH continues to diligently secure glove inventory, even at increased costs, to provide necessary PPE to its loyal customers. Customers will continue seeing fluctuations in price that may or may not affect all glove lines. DASH is making every effort to secure as much product as possible however it is inevitable certain products will go on back order.

How long can we expect this to last?
Experts say the glove market is not expected to turn back to “normal” in 2021. Re-openings in the US and in other countries will cause an additional spike in demand. Gloves are now a bigger part of every day life. Business and consumers alike are increasing glove usage to protect the health and safety of workers, patients, customers etc.

At this time, there are too many unknown factors to pinpoint when the demand will balance with the supply. Business operators and consumers need to be flexible in switching to different glove options and materials.

We thank you for your patience and understanding through these extraordinary circumstances. Our customer service representatives are standing by to answer questions, review your account allocations and to provide online ordering access to customers that previously used out guest checkout.