After President Lee Says “Sanitary Pads Are Too Expensive,” Coupang Bets on 99-Won Pads

According to The Financial News, Coupang is cutting prices on its private-label sanitary pads by up to 29%, bringing them down to one of the lowest levels on the market. After President of South Korea Lee Jae-myung publicly raised concerns about the burden of sanitary pad prices, the trend of price cuts has spread from manufacturers to retailers.
CPLB, Coupang’s private-brand subsidiary, announced on the 29th that it will significantly lower and then freeze prices for medium and large sanitary pads under its dedicated private label brand Lunami.
The new per-pad prices will be 99 won for the medium size and 105 won for the large size, effective from the 1st of next month.
Major manufacturers’ medium and large sanitary pads are typically sold at around 200 to 300 won per pad. Even other retailers’ private-label products are about 120 won each. In this context, Coupang explains that its PB sanitary pads will be at the lowest price level in Korea after the reduction.
Lunami pads are produced entirely in Korea by a small and medium-sized manufacturer, and Coupang will shoulder all losses arising from the price cut.
A Coupang representative said, "By lowering sanitary pad prices, we plan to expand high-value products and do our utmost to ease the financial burden on customers."
Earlier, during a State Council meeting on the 20th, President Lee Jae-myung pointed out, "It seems that sanitary pads in our country are nearly 40% more expensive than those overseas," and added, "If cheaper products are not made and sold, how are poor people supposed to use them?" After his remarks, major sanitary pad manufacturers such as Yuhan-Kimberly, LG-Unicharm, and KleanNara decided to roll out mid- to low-priced sanitary pad lines. On the 26th, the President also shared on his X account (formerly Twitter) a news article covering these developments, commenting, "I hope this takes firm root."
clean@fnnews.com Lee Jeong-hwa Reporter