Hayleys Group glove maker Dipped Products PLC has begun operations at a new factory in the Katunayake Export Processing Zone built at an investment of Rs. 4.2 billion, the company said on Monday.
The plant started operating on 8 October 2026 as part of the company’s expansion plans, according to the Daily FT. Dipped Products — DPL — said the facility is expected to expand its capacity to manufacture value-added gloves for export, strengthening Sri Lanka’s position in high-value rubber exports and adding to foreign exchange earnings.
The site was leased 14 months ago for a quarter of the plant’s cost
The announcement completes a transaction this desk can date precisely from the company’s own disclosures. In August 2025, DPL told the Colombo Stock Exchange it had entered a 30-year lease with the Board of Investment for a 4.75-acre site with buildings in the Katunayake EPZ, at a cost of Rs. 1 billion, as EconomyNext reported at the time. The stated purpose then was identical to the one given now: “enhancing DPL’s production capacity to support its long-term growth plans.”
Read together, the two filings put the project’s shape on the record without either stating it. The Rs. 1 billion land-and-buildings lease is roughly 24% of the Rs. 4.2 billion total, implying about Rs. 3.2 billion in plant, equipment and fit-out — and about 14 months between signing the lease and first production.
The 2025 EconomyNext filing is older than this desk’s sourcing window; it is linked as context rather than counted as a source.
The footprint
DPL now operates five manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka and two in Thailand, with dedicated marketing and distribution arms in Italy, France, Poland, India and the Middle East. Headquartered in Colombo, it reports a workforce exceeding 18,207 across its manufacturing and plantation sectors.
The Thai operations are recent. DPL acquired Hi Care Thai Gloves Company Ltd in December 2024 for US$11 million, describing the purchase as a way to expand its global footprint in rubber glove manufacturing and strengthen its presence in international markets.
The company’s export exposure places it in a sector that the National Chamber of Exporters has been pressing the government on, and the Katunayake investment lands the same week the Institute of Policy Studies argued that Sri Lanka’s next phase of growth has to come from private investment and more competitive exports rather than consumption.
A note on identifying this plant
DPL has announced more than one new facility in recent years, and the figures are easy to conflate. This one is the Katunayake EPZ plant at Rs. 4.2 billion, operating from 8 October 2026. It is not the company’s sports-glove venture at Biyagama, a separate site with a separate and much smaller investment figure. Anyone matching reports on DPL capacity expansions should discriminate on location and investment value, not on “new glove plant” alone.
Sourcing note
This report rests on a single verified newsroom. Searches across EconomyNext, the Daily Mirror, Lanka Business Online, the Island, NewsFirst and the Sunday Times returned only DPL’s earlier facility announcements and the 2025 Katunayake lease — no other verified outlet had carried the opening at the time of writing. Corporate results and disclosure stories of this kind are frequently picked up a day or two later, so that may change.
Not reported
The filing gives no production capacity for the new plant — no annual glove volume, no line count, and no indication of how much it adds to DPL’s existing output. It does not say how many people the plant employs, which is the figure that would make the “18,207” group total meaningful.
It does not name the products or market segments the facility will serve beyond “value-added gloves,” identify target export markets, or say whether output is already contracted to buyers. No projected export revenue or foreign exchange contribution is given, despite the claim that the plant will add to earnings.
The filing also does not say how the Rs. 4.2 billion was financed — from internal funds, debt or a rights issue — or whether the investment carries BOI tax concessions beyond the land lease. It does not explain the five-day gap between the plant beginning operations on 8 October and the announcement on 12 October, and the phrasing “a workforce exceeding 18,207” is unusually precise for an approximation, suggesting 18,207 is an exact figure from a particular date that the filing does not identify.
