Toilet paper is getting more expensive due to soaring prices for its key ingredient. It's the latest item to be squeezed by high demand and shipping delays as the economy reopens.
- Toilet paper is about to get more expensive due to the rising cost of wood pulp.
- Kimberly-Clark, which makes Scott and Cottonelle, warned that its prices will go up in June.
- Toilet paper is one of several consumer goods currently facing tight supply or rising costs.
Toilet paper is about to get more expensive.
According to CNN's Nathaniel Meyersohn, the cost of wood pulp, the key ingredient used to make toilet paper, has soared over the last six months: Pulp cost $606 per metric ton in September, and cost over $907 per metric ton by April.
"We've never seen monthly price increases like this in the history of the business," pulp industry analyst Brian McClay told CNN, adding that the prices he's seeing right now are "unheard of."
McClay attributed to price hike to shipping delays worldwide, as well as a recovery in China, which is the world's biggest buyer of wood pulp.
The rising prices are already impacting brands. CNN cited data from Nielsen IQ, which found that toilet paper prices jumped 15.6% during the year ending on May 1 versus the year prior.
Earlier this year, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the company that makes Cottonelle and Scott toilet paper, among a slew of other consumer products, announced it would be raising its prices in North America beginning in late June. The company said the price hikes are "necessary to help offset significant commodity cost inflation."
Kimberly-Clark also noted in its most recent quarterly report that it was experiencing higher costs due to the price of pulp.
Toilet paper is one of dozens of items getting more expensive or facing short supply as an after-effect of the pandemic. Computer chips are experiencing a worldwide shortage, which is hampering the car industry most of all. Gas prices are soaring and expected to keep increasing over the summer. Plastics prices are rising, leading to a jump in packaging costs. And everything from chlorine to used cars to chicken wings are experiencing tight supply.