Amid the spread of COVID-19’s Delta variant, some American customers are panic-buying toilet paper as they fear the possibility of future lockdowns. The growth of toilet paper demand brings back the dark scenes at the onset of the pandemic.
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Americans Are Panic-Buying Toilet Paper
As reported by USA TODAY, “This latest rebound in toilet paper demand comes as the delta variant drives COVID-19 cases and deaths up across the U.S., with some folks foreseeing another lockdown.”
Many Americans “have used up their stockpiles and some have begun buying again in bulk,” as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The news outlet informs that toilet paper and paper towel leader Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) said it is currently increasing production output for these products to avoid shortages amid the soaring demand.
“The moves come as several retailers said P&G is limiting shipments of paper products to stores.”
A company spokeswoman asserted that the fast consumer goods giant is speeding up production of the Charmin toilet paper and Bounty paper towels. The company’s factories are running 24 hours a day, every day, as P&G looks at raising shipping volumes.
Retailers At Full Speed
Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB), the manufacturer of the Cottonelle and Scott toilet tissue brands, “is monitoring the situation closely, and working hard to produce more toilet paper and other essential paper products to best meet consumer needs.”
In a statement to USA TODAY, the company also said: “We remain vigilant with consumer demand and will continue to produce and ship as much product out to retailers as possible.”
Arthur Ackles, Roche Bros.’s vice president of merchandising and buying, told the Journal, “I don’t think we fully recovered from when the supply chain got a massive hit.”
Georgia-Pacific –the maker of Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper– said that it “continues to produce toilet paper and towels 24/7 across our system.”
“Our customers may be experiencing small demand surges locally and we are responding. Like other manufacturers, we continue to face a variety of challenges across the supply chain including shipping, transportation, logistics, and labor.”
The company also asked customers no to panic and to enquire the stores about the availability of the product: “Our advice to consumers should they run into limited supplies at one location is not to panic, check other retail outlets … and only purchase what you need.”
