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New Toilet Paper Shortage Could Be Coming, But Not For Reason You Think

A year ago, customers were stripping shelves bare of toilet paper and other essential items at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There may be a new toilet paper shortage, officials are cautioning.

There may be a new toilet paper shortage, officials are cautioning.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia/Wonderlane

Now, consumers may face a new shortage, as well as price increases, but this time it is not the fault of the virus outbreak.

According to reports, rising wood prices are causing the price of toiletries to go up as companies scramble to get the wood pulp that is used to produce toilet paper.

The price of pulp is on the rise for various reasons, including global shipping delays and a slow recovery from COVID in some of the countries largely responsible for purchasing wood pulp to produce paper.

In a blog post posted last week, Katie Denis, a member of the Consumer Brands Association said that rising wood pulp prices are having an impact on toilet paper production costs.

“Take toilet paper, for example. One of the key commodities needed to make toilet paper is wood pulp,” she posted. “You’ve likely heard about surging new construction housing prices, driven primarily by the skyrocketing cost of lumber. Wood pulp is suffering from the same issue, costing 20 percent more in the last year.

Prices for pulp have jumped hundreds of dollars, from approximately $600 per metric ton as recently as September, to more than $900 last month.

“We've never seen monthly price increases like this in the history of the business," said Brian McClay, a pulp industry analyst said to CNN. "It's unheard of.”

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