Unbeknownst to many, Muslim Malaysia is the world's largest producer of condoms and the raging COVID-19 pandemic has shut down most of its production of this prophylactic.
The company that gives Malaysia this distinction is Karex Berhad -- the world's largest condom maker -- located in Johor. Karex makes one in every five condoms globally.
It produces condoms under the Durex brand (the second most popular in the world). In addition, its condoms are also supplied to state healthcare systems such as the National Health Service of the United Kingdom or distributed by aid programs such as the UN Population Fund.
Karex, which says it's the global leader in condom and lubricant manufacturing with operations the United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Thailand, is now warning of a worldwide condom shortage. This, because all its production facilities in Malaysia have remained shut for the past week due to a lockdown imposed by the government. The lockdown will remain in place until April 14.
The lockdown is necessary because Malaysia is the Southeast Asian country hardest hit by COVID-19. Ranked the world's 23rd most COVID-19 the infected country as of Sunday afternoon, Malaysia reported 2,470 confirmed cases and 34 deaths.
Karex said it hasn't produced a single condom from its three Malaysian factories for more than a week due to the lockdown. It revealed a shortfall of 100 million condoms.
Citing a special exemption for critical industries, the Malaysian government gave Karex permission to restart production on Friday, but with only 50% of its workforce.
"It will take time to jumpstart factories and we will struggle to keep up with demand at half capacity," said CEO Goh Miah Kiat to Reuters.
"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."
Goh said the good thing is a demand for condoms remains very strong "because like it or not, it's still essential to have. Given that at this point in time people are probably not planning to have children. It's not the time, with so much uncertainty."
China, India, and Thailand are the world's three other top producers of condoms.
