The Coronavirus pandemic may lead to a global shortage of Condom, the world’s largest producer of condoms, Karex Bhd, has said.
The Malaysia-based company said it has not produced a single condom from its three Malaysian factories for more than a week.
This was due to a lockdown imposed by the government to halt the spread of Covid-19 virus, Bloomberg has reported.
Condom is the most widely used contraceptives in the world and Karex Bhd makes one in every five condoms globally.
It produces for brands like Durex as well as its own line of specialty condoms such as Durian-flavored ones.
It churns out more than 5 billion condoms a year and exports them to more than 140 countries. That has become more challenging as governments shut borders and airlines cancel flights.
The other major condom-producing countries are China, where the Coronavirus originated and led to widespread factory shutdowns, and India and Thailand, which are seeing infections spiking now.
Sadly, Malaysia is one of the hardest-hit countries in South East Asia. As of Monday morning, more than 2,400 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, with 35 deaths.
The lockdown in the country is due to remain in place at least until April 14.
Chief Executive of the group, Goh Miah Kiat, warned of a global shortage as supply falls by almost 50 per cent while its stockpile is set to last for just another two months.
He said the company only restarted its factories on Friday after a week-long closure, working with just half of its workforce.
“It will take time to jumpstart factories and we will struggle to keep up with demand at half capacity,” Mr. Kiat said.
“We are going to see a global shortage of condoms everywhere, which is going to be scary.
“My concern is that for a lot of humanitarian programs deep down in Africa, the shortage will not just be two weeks or a month. That shortage can run into months,” he said.
Mr. Kiat also said demand is growing at ‘double digits’ as governments around the world issue stay-at-home notices and many people abstain from having children due to the uncertain future.
He warned of a possible price hike in the purchase of condoms.
“Condoms could also get much more expensive. We are still paying all our worker’s full salaries but workers only come in half the time so generally, there will be a cost increase,” he said.
