Friday, March 27, 2020

Attention Hoarders: "Condom shortage looms after coronavirus lockdown shuts world's top producer"

Thanks to FT Alphaville's Bryce Elder we were able to bring up in a casual conversation the Malaysian latex glove situation:
So, Did You Buy Your Malaysian Latex Glove Stocks Last Week?
...Following up on January 22's "FT Alphaville's Bryce Elder Is a Genius: Pandemic Coronavirus Edition".
From FT Alphaville's Markets Not Live column, January 27:
....To the wider market, and Wuhan’s got us all in check. Nearly everything (except the Malaysian latex glove sector) is down after the advance of the coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, failed to slow through an extended Chinese New Year. The outbreak has reached “a grave and complicated stage”, Beijing officials said at a presser on Sunday. Most worryingly the virus appears to be contagious during the incubation period, when there are no visible symptoms, which means the Sars comparisons we’ve been using over the past few weeks may be optimistic.
To which our interlocutor, a Malaysian gentleman of Chinese extraction responded, also casually, yet proudly:
"Malaysia is also home to the largest condom manufacturer in the world."
Which prompted first the quick-on-the-uptake "Saaaay" reaction and then the placement of an order that (hopefully) may have raised some eyebrows at our favorite purveyor.
And today's story from Reuters:
A global shortage of condoms is looming, the world’s biggest producer said, after a coronavirus lockdown forced it to shut down production.

Malaysia’s Karex Bhd (KARE.KL) makes one in every five condoms globally. It has not produced a single condom from its three Malaysian factories in the past 10 days due to a lockdown imposed by the government to halt the spread of the virus.

That’s already a shortfall of 100 million condoms, normally marketed internationally by brands such as Durex, supplied to state healthcare systems such as Britain’s NHS or distributed by aid programs such as the UN Population Fund.

“We are going to see a global shortage of condoms everywhere, which is going to be scary,” Karex Chief Executive Goh Miah Kiat told Reuters this week.
“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.”

Malaysia is Southeast Asia’s worst affected country, with 2,161 coronavirus infections and 26 deaths. The lockdown is due to remain in place at least until April 14....
...MORE

I might be persuaded to part with some of the stash, what with the social distancing and all.
(posted with some trepidation)