Is the tissue paper shortage caused by the pandemic real?

Is the tissue paper shortage caused by the pandemic real?

There was a word among the people during the lockdown that there is a tissue paper shortage caused by the pandemic. People were reporting about the exhaust of tissue papers in the retail shop and there was less supply of tissue papers by the wholesale supplier. The question is the shortage of tissue paper was real at the time of lockdown?

Videos went viral on the social media about people being panic to stock items at their home after the announcement of lockdown. People across the USA were in the panic buy of toilet papers. The toilet paper stocks in the retailer shops and supermarkets were getting exhausted as people were buying more than their usual limits.

Experts said that the exhaust of the toilet paper was caused by a fundamental shift in demand for a certain kind of toilet paper for use at home, as well as a sharp twist in the supply chain between the manufacturing units and the stores.

There was also a hope that two main ingredients used to make toilet paper are in supply and the production is ramped up at factories and soon there will be abundant stock on the shelves of the supermarkets.

Before the lockdown people were using the washroom at different locations as they were moving but in the lockdown, they tend to use a single washroom at the place of their residence, this made them realize the amount of use of the tissue paper along with making worried about the stock as the movement was restricted.

According to Georgia-Pacific, which makes Quilted Northern toilet paper and other paper products, the location shift prompted by shelter-at-home rules would lead to a 40% increase in the average daily home usage of tissue paper products.

As per reports of IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm, the demand for toilet paper was high in March with $1.45 billion in tissue paper sales in the entire month. It mentioned that the retail stores couldn't keep enough supply and the supply chain became strained by the demand.

The factories that manufacture tissue paper products were working round the clock to produce enough toilet papers to meet the demand and fulfill the gap for the shortage. Usually, a well-timed process based on consistent demand for a product that does not take long to make in factories. Every process from packaging to packing is automated which saves time and reduces errors.