[News] Bleach, the rebirth of the product with two centuries of life whose consumption is now skyrocketing

[SougarLord]

 

The consumer has rediscovered bleach, a product with two centuries of existence that our grandparents already used and that is now reborn as an effective weapon against the coronavirus thanks to its ability to disinfect surfaces, food and clothing. During the months of strict confinement, when it was very difficult to find masks or gloves in stores, bleach or sodium hypochlorite became a resource that could be found on the supermarket shelves and within everyone's reach. “During the first month of the pandemic, the consumption of bleach skyrocketed in Spain, up to 145%. Consumers went looking for hydroalcoholic gels, but everything was sold out. Therefore, people wiped out bleach, which is the most basic and safest cleaning product, ”says Carlos Prieto, CEO of the Gelt application.

 

The bleach was always available to the end consumer. In the factories they received a flood of requests from the distributors. «In March 2020, the general po[CENSORED]tion became very nervous and needed quick solutions. One of them was bleach, something that was at hand and easily accessible compared to other products ", says Mª de los Llanos Gómez Ferro, Director of Quality at Industrias La Tuna. “We bleach manufacturers were overwhelmed. We have our own brand, but we are closely linked to the distribution brand, we manufacture for large companies at the national level, which are the ones that move the large numbers. There was a time when requests soared that we had to make risky decisions so that everyone had access to the product and a series of quotas were established to be able to distribute it among all, ”says Gómez Ferro.

 

Only during the first months of the pandemic, specifically in the months of March and April, up to 52% more liters of bleach were produced than during the same period in 2019 at the La Tuna factory located in Mejorada del Campo ( Madrid). Faced with this scenario, they had to manage to be able to service all the orders always received in order to redistribute the bleach products in the most equitable way possible so that they reached the largest number of people. "Work shifts were increased, production was restructured with the aim of optimizing it as much as possible and giving priority to the manufacture of bleaches suitable for disinfection of drinking water and bleaches with detergent for their double disinfection and cleaning action", he remarks Gomez Ferro.

 

In almost 90% of homes

In general and encompassing all bleach brands - manufacturer and white or distribution - the sales data collected confirm the boom that this disinfectant is experiencing in our country. Its demand shot up 30% in 2020 with penetration in 87.1% of households, that is, 7% more, according to the consulting firm Kantar. During an exercise marked by the coronavirus pandemic, an average of 17.1 liters were purchased for each household in our country. From the figures provided by the consultancy it is also extracted that two-thirds of the liters sold were private label. Although, the manufacturer brands were able to increase the liters sold by 51% more, an advance that allowed them to gain four share points in 2020.

 

Henkel, one of the best known bleach manufacturer brands in Spain with products such as Estrella, Conejo or Neutrex also confirms this spectacular rise in sales. "It is a product that has always been present, but has not grown in recent years and is now experiencing a boom with the pandemic, also due to the very good relationship between quality and price it offers," says Oriol Marín, marketing director for Henkel Laundry & Home Care. “There are alternative products that do not contain bleach, but the level of disinfection is more limited; they are also more expensive and you have to add more product ”, adds Marín.

 

 

Change of habits

Recommendations by different health authorities, including by the World Health Organization (WHO), to use bleach as an effective surface cleaner against COVID have also played an important role in boosting sales of sodium hypochlorite. . “In most of the cleaning and disinfection protocols of the different authorities, its use was recommended, alluding to its disinfectant efficacy together with its availability -at least just before the pandemic- for the consumer. In addition, given the uncertainty of the moment, it resorted to those products that for decades have been associated with disinfection.In addition, to the fact that, due to the confinement and subsequent restrictions, we spend much more time in our homes, we must add the concern for our health, which has led consumers to clean more frequently and more thoroughly, "says Pilar Espina, general director of the Association of Detergents and Cleaning, Maintenance and Related Products Companies (Adelma).

 

The pandemic has also brought a revolution in customs that will continue over time. "There has been a structural change in consumer habits, which is here to stay," adds Xavier Closa, Head of R&D at Henkel Laundry & Home Care. For this reason, bleach maintains sales with a rise of 10 points in the first months of 2021, according to Henkel figures. «We are more at home and it is cleaned more; The concern about eliminating viruses continues ”, points out Marín, also from Henkel. “Perhaps disinfectants, including bleach, will moderate their demand once concerns about the spread of the virus have subsided. On the other hand, it is logical to think that after these months, and with fear that in the future there will be outbreaks or new viruses, we will continue cleaning and, of course, disinfecting our house as a method that we all have at our fingertips, "he says, meanwhile, Espina, from Adelma.

 

"People are afraid and the consumption of bleach is maintained, although they are not the increases of last year and if you compare it with March of last year you obviously see falls. In addition, other alternative products have emerged in the fight against covid, ”Prieto sentence from Gelt.