Kimberly-Clark, the producer and maker of famous diaper brand ‘Huggies‘ and numerous sanitary pads, is about to announce the closing of its manufacturing plant in Ikorodu, Nigeria, after many years of spending $100 million in the nation.
According to an inside source who desired anonymity, Kimberly-Clark has been suffering and working below capacity since late 2023 as a result of Nigeria’s severe economic circumstances.
This is the company’s second shutdown in Nigeria; it previously shut down operations in 2019 due to a business review, but restarted operations in 2022 with the opening of the $100 million facility in Ikorodu, Lagos State.
“Running cost is extremely on the high side. Our fixed spend every month is above N500 million and we spent about N100 million on just gas consumption for powering the gas engine aside from maintenance. The company has two assets and for last year, these assets didn’t run for like 90 days in 365 days.”
“Earlier this year, the company had to downsize to 2 shifts from 4 shifts. We run 24hrs and 7days and 365 days before but currently we don’t run on Friday, Saturday and Sunday anymore because of the economic situation. There is already an embargo on external recruitment. The company is looking for ways to reduce cost since it is not making a profit”, the source said.
The development comes as more than 15 multinational companies including Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and others announced an exit from Nigeria between last year and May this year.
