Pandemic caused condom sales to fall, says Malaysia-based contraceptive giant Karex
- Karex, the world’s largest condom manufacturer, said sales were down as much as 40 per cent, despite earlier forecasts of a pandemic-induced surge in demand
- Sales have improved in recent weeks, but Karex isn’t taking any chances – it plans to diversify into the new high-growth area of medical glove manufacturing
While many would assume that people would have nothing to do “but have sex” indoors because of movement restrictions, that did not appear to be the case, Karex CEO Goh Miah Kiat told Nikkei Asia.
The Malaysian contraceptive company produces around 5.5 billion condoms a year and is a supplier to brands such as Durex and ONE Condoms. It also produces its own condom brands.
Karex had assumed at the start of the pandemic that condom demand would surge as people cooped up at home practice birth control because of to economic uncertainty, Bloomberg reported in March 2020, citing Goh. Goh also predicted a condom shortage at the time following pandemic-fuelled factory shutdowns.
Instead, condom demand slumped, not just for Karex but for others like Durex and Trojan, too, as lockdowns hit social life.
Goh told Nikkei condom demand fell when hotels and motels closed, as these locations had provided privacy. The sex industry, too, was affected by the health crisis, with in-person sex providers facing a challenging market.