Earlier this week the world’s largest condom maker, Malaysia’s Karex, said it plans to raise prices by 30 percent because of higher raw material prices and global shipping disruptions.
The company produces about five billion condoms a year, believed to be around one-fifth of the world’s condom production, supplying top brands like Durex and Trojan. It also supplies state health systems such as Britain’s NHS and global aid programmes run by the United Nations.
In interviews with media outlets Karex’s chief executive Goh Miah Kiat revealed costs have risen significantly since the start of the conflict, leading to the need for the price increase. The potential for further impacts to the supply of the cruicial contraceptive could not be ruled out.
The impacts have also been reported by other similar businesses such as glove makers, relying on byproducts of crude oil needed to make their products. One key ingredient, naphtha is used in a wide range of products from plastics and paint, polyester, kitchen containers and even car parts.
Reuters said the hashtag “condom prices rising” had garnered more than 60 million views by Thursday on Chinese social media, with users discussing the possible need to stockpile, and other measures to deal with the price rises.
Oil supplies and global supply chains have been severely disrupted since Iran responded to US and Israeli airstrikes with threats to target vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
