Inflation has driven up the cost of sanitary napkins and tampons in the US, forcing many cash-strapped women to make the undesirable choice of saving on menstrual products to buy other basic necessities.
The prices of feminine hygiene products and tampons are rising faster than the prices of food. The Wall Street Journal reported.That’s nearly double the number before the pandemic.
According to Circana, the average price of a pack of pads is $6.50, up 41% since 2019. The price of a pack of tampons has increased 36% to $8.29.
Rising prices have led to annual sales of pads and tampons falling 12% and 16%, respectively, since 2020, according to consumer research firm Nielsen IQ.
But a handful of feminine-care companies remain thriving, enjoying something of a monopoly because menstrual products are classified as medical devices and require federal approval before they can be sold in stores.
Procter & Gamble, maker of Tampax tampons and Always napkins, dominates the feminine care market. The consumer goods maker reported higher net sales and earnings per share in the first quarter of this year but said higher prices had caused a decline in global sales.
Kimberly-Clark Corp., which sells U by Kotex napkins and tampons and Thinx, and Edgewell Personal Care, which makes Carefree napkins and Playtex tampons, also hold large shares of the feminine care industry.
Procter & Gamble shares have risen 13% so far this year, Kimberly-Clark’s shares have risen about 18% and Edgewell Personal Care shares have risen about 10%.
But customers are likely losing trust in sanitary product makers, in part because women have taken to social media to share their fears about recent studies that have found tampons contain toxic metals such as arsenic and lead.
The rising prices of pads and tampons have raised concerns that period poverty – the inability to afford menstrual products – could become widespread.
According to a study, 16.9 million menstruating women in the United States live in poverty, and two-thirds of them cannot afford menstrual products like pads or tampons. According to the National Institutes of Health.
Period poverty often leads to mental illness and health risks such as recurrent urinary tract infections due to not changing feminine care products frequently enough.
