Korea targets sanitary pad makers over pricing practices

Korea is initiating a regulatory push against major sanitary pad makers amid concerns over a possible oligopoly. They are suspected of engaging in unfair price-fixing practices by abusing their dominant market position. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is also investigating whether the companies set excessively high prices for their products. The FTC investigation follows President Lee Jae Myung’s order issued during a policy briefing by the antitrust authority last week, when he took issue with the “relatively expensive” prices of sanitary pads in Korea compared with those in other countries. According to a 2023 report published by the Korean Women’s Environmental Network, the average sanitary pad price in Korea was about 40 percent higher than their overseas counterparts. The organization compared the prices of 510 sanitary pad products from Korea with 69 others from 11 major developed countries, including the United States and Japan. Korean consumers largely echoed this sentiment, as many rely on products from the top three makers — Yuhan-Kimberly, LG Unicharm and Kleannara