The coronavirus pandemic has had many indirect consequences, including on the diaper market. There’s reason to believe the prices of disposable diapers will continue to rise this year, putting more pressure on struggling parents.
According to Fox 8, several major disposable diaper companies has announced it will be increasing its prices this year.
•Both Kimberly-Clark (who manufactures Huggies and Pull-Ups) as well as Proctor & Gamble (the company behind Pampers and Luvs) have confirmed plans to increase prices.
•Proctor & Gamble says consumers will see a rise in prices by September, whereas Kimberly-Clark will begin increases much sooner – next month to be exact.
The publication notes that this isn’t exclusive to the disposable diaper industry. Rather, the prices of many common goods are being raised amid problems caused by the coronavirus crisis, including shipping and transportation delays, which subsequently have created disruptions in the supply change.
Since coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) last year, disposable diaper prices have been steadily increasing. In April, citing numbers from NielsenIQ, CNN reported that diaper prices have risen as much as 8.7% in the last year. This has created a huge strain on low-income families that already struggled to purchase household products like baby diapers.
This is coupled with the fact that many families are turning to charitable organizations to help them get access to expensive baby products. Fox 8 notes that the National Diaper Bank Network, a non-profit that helps distributes diapers to low-income families, provided 67% more diapers to families than they have in previous years. The organization notes that more families are struggling to pay for diapers, which is a direct result of the increasing prices that show no signs of slowing down.
As the prices of disposable diapers increase, many parents are trying to find alternatives, such as reusable or cloth diapers. One of their main advantages is that they can save families a significant chunk of money. They may cost more than a pack of diapers, but they can be reused an endless amount by simply washing them, thereby saving money in the long run.
Reusable diapers have a myriad of other benefits, as pointed out by Mom Loves Best. Most notably, they’re eco-friendly and sustainable, especially when compared to single-use diapers. The publication notes that over 200,000 trees are cut down each year just to create enough disposable diapers, which leads to 3.5 million tons of waste each year. Reusable diapers also use less harmful chemicals. In some cases, they’ve also been found to be more comfortable while can reduce the severity of diaper rash.
Sources: Fox 8, CNN, Mom Loves Best,