P&G suspends SK-II sales in China

Procter & Gamble has suspended sales of its Japan-made SK-II skin care products in China after the country’s authorities said it had found traces of potentially harmful chemicals in the products.

The company has also temporarily shut its SK-II sales counters in China following security incidents between customers and employees, with police being called in to break up angry crowds. Windows have also been smashed at the company’s Shanghai office and one of its websites was been hacked into as a protest. Consumers demanding refunds have been angered by having to wait for nearly a month. P&G had initially said it would refund buyers of the products but on Friday announced its plan to set up a hotline to handle refund requests instead.

Chromium and neodymium have been found in the products but P&G says these occur naturally and are not deliberately added to the products. These elements can cause allergies and other reactions and a number of reports in the Chinese press are claiming reactions among consumers.

The skin care line includes whiteners, face creams and sunblocks, with products retailing between US$35-$300.

P&G says that SK-II sales in China account for less than 7% of its total global sales and that sales are not being suspended in any of the other 13 countries in which the line is sold; concerns were raised in South Korea but the authorities decided the very small traces it found were too low to cause concern. P&G is now looking into how traces of the offending chemicals could have entered the products.