A warning of higher\u00a0condom\u00a0prices by the world\u2019s top maker has gone viral in China with the hashtag \u201ccondom\u00a0prices rising\u201d garnering more than 60 million views by this morning on Chinese social media and stoking talk of stockpiling.<\/p>\n
The Iran crisis has impacted facets of everyday life for people around the world and many Chinese took to social media platform Weibo \u2014 China\u2019s equivalent of X \u2014 to bemoan the fact it was now even invading the bedroom.<\/p>\n
The wave of online comments was sparked by the boss of\u00a0condom\u00a0maker Karex, Goh Miah Kiat, who said the Malaysian company planned to raise prices by 20%-30% and possibly more if supply chain disruptions due to the Iran war drag on.<\/p>\n
Many online comments said higher prices would not deter them from buying\u00a0condoms to protect against pregnancy. Others urged buyers to stockpile.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few dozen yuan for a\u00a0condom\u00a0is a hundred times more cost-effective than raising a child at a million yuan,\u201d said one user.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom now on, not only will we have to be frugal, but we\u2019ll also have to stock up on\u00a0condoms in advance,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n
The online conversations erupted in the past 24 hours and come as Chinese authorities are trying a range of\u00a0policy\u00a0measures to boost the country\u2019s flagging birth rate, which has been falling for decades, to offset an ageing population. Last year, births hit a record\u00a0low.<\/p>\n
Karex\u00a0produces over 5 billion\u00a0condoms annually and is a supplier \u200bto leading brands such as Durex and Trojan.<\/p>\n
A price rise for\u00a0condoms would add to the already increasing cost of family planning in China.<\/p>\n
At the start of the year, China removed a three-decade-old tax exemption on contraceptive drugs and devices.\u00a0Condoms and contraceptive pills are subject to a value-added tax of 13%, the standard rate for most consumer goods.<\/p>\n
Condom\u00a0companies Reckitt, LifeStyles, Ansell, and Renfu, which sell in China, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A warning of higher\u00a0condom\u00a0prices by the world\u2019s top maker has gone viral in China with the hashtag \u201ccondom\u00a0prices…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-602429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}