KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 10): Hartalega Holdings Bhd, the world's largest nitrile glove producer, expects sales volume to pick up in the second half of this year as Malaysia stands to benefit from potential trade diversion of US imports from China.

"In the second half, we are producing much better volume. We have been operating at a utilisation rate of 95% since August compared with 88% previously," its managing director Kuan Mun Leong told reporters after the group's annual general meeting here.

"We are expecting that plant utilisation will be full in October and November. Thus, we see improvement (in sales volume)," he added.

The US is the largest export market for Hartalega, accounting for 54% of the group's total sales. Another 25% comes from Europe and 18% from Asia-Pacific.

At the noon market break, Hartalega shares were up three sen or 0.58% at RM5.19, bringing the group a market capitalisation of RM17.41 billion. The counter saw 723,000 shares changing hands.