- Tampon manufacturers like Procter & Gamble said they are working to tackle tampon shortages.
- The US is witnessing a squeeze on the necessities, caused by demand and supply chain snarls.
- US Senator for New Hampshire, Maggie Hassan, said the shortages were "very troubling."
Tampon manufacturers say they are trying to combat shortages, as retailers and consumers report difficulties accessing the hygiene products.
Multiple outlets, including the BBC and Bloomberg, reported the news.
Procter & Gamble told Bloomberg that the company was "working hard to ramp up production to meet the increased demand for our products." The company owns a number of the biggest sanitary product brands in the US, including Tampax and Always.
Edgewell Personal Care, which manufactures brands like Playtex and O.B., told the BBC that manufacturers were working "around the clock" to restock shelves.
The US is witnessing a squeeze on tampon supplies as a result of ongoing supply chain problems, pushing up the cost of the necessities. The war in Ukraine has also affected supplies of plastics and absorbency materials used to manufacture products, and fertilizer needed to grow cotton.
Procter & Gamble admitted on a recent earnings call that sourcing raw materials was a sticking point. Edgewell Personal Care cited staff shortages caused by COVID infection surges in 2021 and 2022 as a reason for a fall in stocks, per the BBC.
The supply chain and logistics problems have meant retailers have struggled to keep shelves fully restocked and people have moved online to find their preferred brands.
Walgreens previously confirmed experiencing "brand specific shortages" in some areas, while CVS admitted that some suppliers had "not been able to fulfill the full quantities of orders placed," Insider's Gabrielle Bienasz previously reported.
On Monday, the US Senator for New Hampshire, Maggie Hassan, wrote to the CEO of Procter & Gamble, urging the manufacturer to tackle the shortages, which she labelled "very troubling."
Hassan cited a story in Time Magazine, in which a reporter was unable to find tampons across several states, and criticized the "price gouging" of items.
"Access to menstrual products should be treated like every other essential good," Sen. Hassan wrote.
At the beginning of the pandemic, price gouging of essentials like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and hand sanitizer was rightly criticized as an exploitation of an emergency for financial gain. Menstrual products should receive that same consideration."
The rising cost of tampons is another setback for consumers, who are already battling inflation on other necessities like food and fuel.
The average cost of a box of tampons increased by almost 10% throughout the year up to May 28, Bloomberg reported, citing Nielsen IQ.
A number of tampon manufacturers, including Procter & Gamble, Edgewell Personal Care, Kimberly-Clark, and Johnson & Johnson, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.