…cites ‘refocused priorities, economic devts’ as reasons
Kimberly-Clark, makers of Huggies, says it plans to stop local manufacturing and sales in Nigeria after 14 years of doing business in the country.
The American multinational corporation announced the development in a statement on Friday.
The company said the decision was made owing to its recently refocused corporate priorities globally as well as economic trends in the country.
The company said, “Kimberly-Clark today announces it has made the difficult decision to exit its business in Nigeria after almost 15 years, due to recently refocused company strategic priorities globally as well as economic developments in the country.
“Kimberly-Clark will close its manufacturing facility and commercial office in Lagos and will no longer manufacture, market, or sell its Huggies and Kotex products in the country.”
It noted that its top priority will be to fulfil its obligations and ensure that employees and partners “are treated with fairness and respect”.
In 2022, Kimberly-Clark opened its over $100m factory in the Ikorodu area of Lagos.
The company’s decision to pull out of Nigeria follows the recent gale of exits by multinationals from the country.
In August 2023, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Nigeria Plc announced plans to cease operations, transferring its business activities to a third-party organisation.
In November 2033, Sanofi-Aventis Nigeria Limited, a French pharmaceutical company, also shut down its direct operations in the country.
In December 2023, Procter & Gamble (P&G), an American multinational consumer goods company, said it had plans to transition from local production to solely importing its products.
