Pandemic lifts demand for soap, detergent

The pandemic has brought many changes in people's habits and practices, one of these being an increase in hygiene consciousness, which is why they use more soaps and detergents to keep the highly contagious coronavirus at bay.

This increased consciousness has given a boost to demand for soap and detergent. As a result, production of soaps and detergents increased this year.

Industrial production data by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) showed that soap and detergent making grew 12 per cent year-on-year to 134,411 tonnes in the January-August period of 2020 from 120,211 tonnes in the same period a year ago.

"We are washing hands and clothes more frequently this year than a year ago to tame the coronavirus. So, we need more soaps now," said Sutapa Das, a banker living in Dhaka's Swamibag.

Julia Yesmin, who resides in Mirpur of the capital, echoed Das. "Requirement for washing and hygiene has increased in our family," she said.

Unilever Bangladesh, the largest manufacturer of soap, said hygiene consciousness went up dramatically with the Covid-19 crisis becoming apparent from third week of March in the country.

"As the pandemic spread, the world realised that a humble bar of soap, apart from wearing masks, was the best defence against the invisible enemy," said Kedar Lele, chairman and CEO of Unilever Bangladesh, in an emailed reply.

Increasingly people started washing their hands with soap, a lot more often, as many as five times a day to keep themselves protected from the novel coronavirus, he said.

"Not only that, consumers also started using a more convenient format of liquid handwash which drove up the demand across the country," he added.

The BBS data showed that soap and detergent manufacturing rose in the March-April period and it picked up in June-July period of 2020.

The highest production was recorded in July when major industries produced 25,185 tonnes of soap and detergent, 54 per cent higher year-on-year from 16,400 tonnes in the same month a year ago.

Lele said Unilever, a fast-moving consumer goods multinational company, was not only able to project the spike in demand but also committed substantial investments in awareness building campaigns to minimise the spread of the novel coronavirus.

He said Unilever's strict behavioural protocols such as masks, hand-hygiene, safe distance, segmented manufacturing floor, dedicated buses for factory workers and occupational health infrastructure with medical professionals allowed it to operate plants without any shut-down throughout the year.

He said Unilever was proactive in ordering more raw materials. It also prepared its business essential team to deliver these hygiene products to consumers across the country without any hindrance.

"Higher efficiency of operations allowed us to have a headroom in our production capacity," he said.

"As an organisation we consistently do a capacity analysis and have been expanding our manufacturing footprint and capacities in Bangladesh with average investment of over Tk 200 crore every year," said Lele.

Sabbir Hasan Nasir, executive director of ACI Logistics, which operates the biggest supermarket chain Shwapno, said sales of home cleaning and hygiene items rose since March.

"One of the good things is hygiene awareness has improved," he said.

Jesmin Zaman, head of marketing of Square Toiletries, echoed him.

Md Quamrul Hassan, business director of ACI, said the fight to prevent Covid-19 has boosted demand for soaps particularly health soaps.

The market for soaps has grown 10 per cent year-on-year in 2020.

"We also saw tremendous growth of handwashing products," he said, adding that there has also been growth in detergent sales.

Hassan, however, said demand for hygiene and cleaning products, which shot up in March and onward, has been slowing in recent months.

In August, production of soap and detergent declined 14 per cent year-on-year to 14,000 tonnes, according to the BBS.