Toilet paper shortages could be the next side-effect of the energy crisis

12th of April 2022
Toilet paper shortages could be the next side-effect of the energy crisis

Fears that toilet paper supplies could dwindle again have been expressed by paper manufacturers as energy prices soar.

Empty shelves were a global feature during the early months of the pandemic due to stockpiling. Now energy price hikes could lead to the problem returning.

The paper industry is said to be the third largest industrial energy consumer in the EU and is therefore heavily impacted by the rising cost of electricity. Manufacturers claim the crisis has hit the entire production chain from toilet paper to packaging material and even recycling.

And some Italian paper firms have even halted production due to the energy shock caused by the Ukraine war.

"Last December Italian paper mills were paying five times more for the natural gas with which they produce electricity to run their plants," says Lorenzo Poli, chief of Assocarta, the trade group for the Italian paper industry. "These days the cost has increased tenfold, with peaks of 15 times more."

He claims paper mills resisted the energy price rises late last year and even produced at a loss. But he adds that an increasing number of paper factories are now coming to a halt.

Executive vice-president for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans is calling for a "dash into renewable energy at lightning speed" to tackle the vulnerabilities highlighted by the war in Ukraine.

"Renewables are a cheap, clean and potentially endless source of energy and instead of funding the fossil fuel industry elsewhere, they create jobs here," he said.

Paper manufacturers are backing this stance - but are still concerned about how energy-intensive industries such as theirs will cope in the short-term.

 

 

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