CPI Assures Consumers There Is no Risk of Toilet Roll Shortage in the UK

With tougher social restrictions being put in place following a rise of COVID cases, retail demand has sharply increased in some areas across the UK. In recent days there have been pictures reminiscent of the scenes in supermarkets in early March with lower short-term availability of essential goods including toilet rolls.

The Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), the leading trade body for the UK paper industry, assures consumers that there is no need to panic.

In March CPI issued a joint statement with the Paper Industry Technical Association (PITA) reassuring consumers that the coronavirus outbreak had had no immediate impact on the UK tissue industry, tissue manufacturing, wholesale stock levels, the industry supply chain or supply to retailers. This remains true. Indeed, throughout the last lockdown despite high demand the UK toilet roll supply chain kept going strong, with the product still being distributed to retailers as normal.

The UK uses around 6.7 billion toilet rolls a year, of which 90 percent are made in the UK. The coronavirus has not caused this to change much.

Andrew Large, director general of the CPI said, “There is no need to panic. As proven in the full lockdown in March toilet roll is not going to run out despite increased demand. The vast majority of toilet roll we see on our supermarket shelves is made here in the UK. Although many people are spending more time at home due to public health restrictions, consumers do not need to worry about keeping their home fully stocked with toilet roll. The industry works hard to continue to manufacture great quantities to meet the UK’s needs.”

The Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) is the leading trade association representing the UK’s paper-based industries, comprising paper and board manufacturers and converters, corrugated packaging producers, makers of soft tissue papers, and collectors of paper for recycling.

CPI represents an industry with an aggregate annual turnover of £12 billion, 62,000 employees and which supports a further 100,000 jobs in the wider economy.

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