During the lockdown period in Shanghai, some local netizens joked that milk, bread, vegetables, and fruits were often out of stock, but condoms were always in stock. Condom sales have also declined significantly due to the impact of the epidemic, and even Karex Bhd, the world's largest condom manufacturer, is also complaining. Its sales of condoms have fallen by 40% in the past two years and it has had to open up a new production line to make gloves.

●The reporter obtained a set of data from Tianyancha:

From 2020 to June 20 this year, more than 40,000 condom manufacturers have been canceled, with an average of 17,300 companies canceled every year, far more than the number of cancellations in 2019 (14,987).

World's largest condom maker sees sales drop 40%

Kangle is a Malaysian condom manufacturing company that produces about 5.5 billion condoms a year and is a supplier of brands such as Durex and ONE condom, as well as producing its own brand of condoms. Early in the outbreak, Recreation was optimistic that demand for condoms would surge as people stuck at home with contraception due to economic uncertainty. It also predicted at the time that there would be a shortage of condoms due to the closure of factories due to the outbreak.

According to the Beijing News, around the beginning of April 2020, Kangle Company publicly stated that its inventory can only last for another two months, and the production capacity gap is expected to reach 100 million.

Such a warning signal made the industry nervous. At that time, Renfu Medicine (600079.SH), a listed company with a condom brand 'Jissbon' in China, also gained popularity in the capital market, and its stock price once rose to an all-time high of 39.44. Yuan/share.

截图自杰士邦官网

And as time went by, this logical loop was finally defeated by reality. At the beginning of this year, according to foreign media reports, in the past two years, the sales of Kangle's condom products have dropped by about 40%.

Industry insiders: Sales may be affected by usage scenarios

Zhao Chuan, the founder and CEO of the domestic brand 'Elephant' condom, said: 'For more than two years, bosses in other industries have expressed their envy to us, thinking that due to the impact of the epidemic, people staying at home will definitely bring about a violent increase in the consumption of condom products. increase. But it’s not.”

According to Red Star News, according to Jiang Zhiming, chairman of Nuosi Technology, the decline in condom sales may be related to usage scenarios. 'Under the influence of the epidemic, once people are banned and cannot communicate with each other, (sales) will definitely drop. Because apart from the family, condoms have other usage scenarios, and there are a lot of them.' Jiang Zhiming said , when people's communication and contacts are reduced, the frequency of condom use is also reduced. According to a set of statistics cited by Southern Weekend, in the Chinese market, nearly half of condom usage occurs outside the home.

截图自诺丝科技官网

Condoms and medical gloves are both 'covers' but have different names

According to reports, Guilin Hengbao is located in Guilin City, Guangxi, backed by the world's largest rubber producing area in Southeast Asia. In 1966, Guilin Zizhu Latex Products Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guilin Latex Factory) was established with investment from the former Ministry of Chemical Industry. In 2008, Guangxi Guilin Aichao Health Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guilin Aichao) was established. Together with Hu Zhiqiang's Guilin Hengbao, the three companies are relatively well-known in the Guilin condom industry.

Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the circumstances of these three companies have been different-one of them has lost money, the other has been acquired, and the third has fed back the condom business through its glove business.

According to reports, some condom manufacturers themselves are equipped with medical gloves, such as Zizhu latex; and after the sales of condoms have declined, some companies that only produced condoms have also turned their attention to medical gloves.

Take Kangle Company as an example. According to foreign media reports, it is entering the medical glove manufacturing business and plans to start producing glove-related products in Thailand in the middle of this year. Directly use rubber, the raw material for producing condoms, to produce rubber gloves, which greatly reduces the waste of raw materials and saves costs. In addition, rubber gloves are another major medical product besides masks during the epidemic. In hospitals, doctors not only have to wear chemical protective clothing to prevent infection, but also have a high demand for rubber gloves.

Jiang Jia, the brand manager of Guilin Hengbao, revealed to reporters that due to the impact of the epidemic, the demand for medical gloves has grown unexpectedly, reaching almost 100% growth every year, and it brings more profits to the company than condoms.' We expect the company to go back and feed back the condom business after going public.'