While many assumed that as a consequence of movement restrictions, people would don’t have anything to do “except have sex” indoors, this is just not the case, Karex CEO Goh Miah Kiat told Nikkei Asia.
The Malaysian contraceptive company produces around 5.5 billion condoms a yr and supplies brands equivalent to Durex and ONE Condoms. It also produces its own brands of condoms.
At the start of the pandemic, Karex assumed that demand for condoms would increase as people clustered at home and practiced contraception at home as a consequence of economic uncertainty, Bloomberg reported in March 2020, citing Goh. Goh also predicted that there can be a shortage of condoms after the pandemic-related factory closures.
Instead, demand for condoms fell, not just for Karex but additionally for other corporations equivalent to Durex and Trojan, as lockdowns hit social life.
Why are people embarrassed to speak about protected sex in Malaysia, a serious condom producer?
Why are people embarrassed to speak about protected sex in Malaysia, a serious condom producer?
Goh said demand for Nikkei condoms dropped after hotels and motels closed because those locations offered privacy. The health crisis has also hit the sex industry, with sex staff personally facing a difficult market.
The pandemic has also hit large-scale government condom distribution programs.
Karex posted a full-year loss for the 2020 financial yr ending in June – the corporate’s first loss since its stock market debut in November 2013. The company’s share price on Bursa Malaysia has fallen by almost 50% in 2021.
Goh told Nikkei that condom sales have increased in recent weeks. This is in keeping with other major condom sellers equivalent to Durex and Trojan, which have seen improved sales following the lifting of movement restrictions.
But Karex is just not taking any risks – it plans to diversify its activities towards the production of medical gloves, which has experienced rapid development in the course of the pandemic. Similar raw materials and technologies are utilized in the production of condoms and gloves, Goh claims, in line with Nikkei.
