Icon: enlarge
Examination gloves: "We will just have to accept higher prices"
Photo: Sergei Bobylev / ITAR-TASS / imago images
After the drastic shortage of personal protective equipment such as respiratory masks or protective gowns at the beginning of the corona pandemic, a new problem is now emerging: the prices for disposable gloves are exploding.
For example, the command and situation center of the DRK regional association of Baden-Württemberg warns in an internal message that a delivery bottleneck is currently emerging.
These can last the whole of next year and would be imminent or have already occurred.
"In this context, the procurement prices will increase significantly," it says in the warning, which was also sent to the emergency services in the southwest.
One supplier has already informed the DRK that he is expecting prices between 15 and 20 euros per pack, i.e. for 100 gloves.
The problem: Disposable gloves are not specific protective equipment that is only required for dealing with Covid 19 patients.
Rather, it is "about consumables used on a large scale every day", according to the DRK Baden-Württemberg.
The district associations should "urgently" check their stocks and, if necessary, initiate "appropriate procurements".
Disposable gloves are part of the basic equipment in all areas of medicine and care.
But it won't be that easy to just stock up.
"That shouldn't work, because a supplier doesn't get more than he ordered," says Michael Koch, product manager at Medika Medizintechnik in Hof in Franconia.
The price is already skyrocketing, normally a hundred-pack of examination gloves would cost around 2.50 euros to sell, currently the price is six to seven times higher.
"The situation is crazy and will last in 2021," says Koch.
The reason lies in the extremely increased demand due to the corona crisis.
"You can't just build a new factory out of the ground," he says.
The dependence on China is also great for gloves.
Koch speaks of 70 percent;
Thailand or Malaysia played a subordinate role in production.
The majority of gloves are no longer made from latex but from synthetically produced nitrile.
Speculators have discovered the business
Koch feels reminded of the time when the lack of protective masks was one of the greatest worries in Germany.
"For more than four weeks now, I have been checking all certificates very carefully for counterfeiting, so that products that have not been incorrectly declared are being blamed on you. At the same time, speculators have probably discovered the business and are also driving the market," he says.
Time is of the essence, because due to the Chinese New Year in February 2021, all orders must be placed by the beginning of November at the latest.
"If there is a very sharp rise in the number of cases in spring 2021, there could be massive bottlenecks in other areas as well," believes Koch.
Interesting too
Icon: Spiegel PlusIcon: Spiegel PlusSpahn's next corona bankruptcy: Germany fails because of mask productionBy Nils Klawitter
Sterile surgical gloves have not yet been affected by the shortage.
But they are no alternative to the simple and under-sterile examination gloves.
A pair of aseptically packed gloves costs an average of 35 cents.
Even with hundreds of prices of 20 euros, the use of standard goods would be more economical.
Koch believes: "We will simply have to accept higher prices."
Icon: The mirror
