Procter and Gamble [Image Credit: Premium Times]
Procter and Gamble (P&G), owner of consumer goods like Pampers, Ariel, Always, Oral B, Gillette, and Safeguard, has announced its plan to stop on-ground production in Nigeria, opting for an import-based market.
Four months after GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – one of Nigeria’s biggest pharmaceutical companies– announced its exit from Nigeria, Procter and Gamble (P&G) announced its recent dissolution in Nigeria and Argentina on the 6th of December 2023.
In a statement explaining the reason for the company’s discontinuation of on-ground production, the Chief Financial Officer of the group, Andre Schulten, highlighted the increasing difficulty posed by the need to operate and create U.S. dollar value due to the macroeconomic environment.
“…we are announcing a restructuring program to adjust the operating model and portfolio to ensure we maintain the portfolio discipline that has brought us to this point. The restructuring program will largely focus on Nigeria and Argentina. We’ve announced that we will turn Nigeria into an import-only market, effectively dissolving our footprint on the ground in Nigeria and reverting to an import-only model.”
Procter and Gamble products [Image Credit: Naira Metrics]
As these companies announce their claims to exit Nigeria due to the macroeconomic environment, the weight of these decisions will fall on the shoulders of the consumers, causing a hike in products, as we have already seen in the case of GSK. Despite President Tinubu’s implemented reforms to attract foreign investment to Nigeria, these changes have resulted in increased challenges and hardships for the populace.
This new development forces the current consumer market of P&G products to find low-quality alternatives for current P&G products in the event of a price hike. These new developments beg the question of the future of Nigeria’s consumer market and how a price hike will affect women, especially mothers, as they remain the highest consumers of P&G products like Always, Pampers and Ariel in Nigeria.
Source: Nairametrics
