Taiwan rushes to buy toilet paper for fear of price hike

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Buying a pack of toilet paper is easy, but not for the residents of Taiwan in the past few days. Panic buying has been seen by retailers, who received a notice from suppliers last Friday that the cost of the tissues would increase between 10 and 30 percent in mid-March.

From Taipei in the north and Tainan in the south, supermarket shelves were quickly depleted and citizens who were unable to buy the products in person quickly took to online shops.

Empty shelves of toilet roll at a supermarket in Taipei on Tuesday. /VCG Photo

Almost five million packs of toilet paper were sold on e-commerce platform PChome in just three days, according to local media. The popular site even put up a banner reads, “Buying panic war! Toilet paper prices are rising, are you ready?”

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Consumers posted photos of empty shelves and long lines on social media, with one comment saying: “For the first time, I can’t even buy two packs of toilet paper. Is the world sick?”

Another said: “Went to queue for toilet paper early this morning and this is what it looked like... #SoCrowded #RunningCompetition.”

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A video showing people stuffing their cars with boxes of toilet paper has also emerged. The rush to buy toilet paper soon became “sport for all” - even claw machine changed from having dolls as a prize to using toilet paper.

Some Costco stores even reported that they sold out less than five minutes after opening, urging them to issue a purchase limit on the number of packs.

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Why the price increase? According to the statement issued by Taiwan’s commercial authority on Sunday, forest fires in Canada and disruptions to production in Brazil are among the factors being blamed.

The price of fiber pulp, used to make toilet paper, now costs about 800 US dollars per ton, compared with 650 US dollars a year ago.

However, major producers including YFY Inc., Cheng Loong Corporation and Kimberly-Clark Taiwan, have all reported their supplies of the pulp are adequate for toilet paper.

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In the statement, consumers are advised to buy toilet paper made with recycled content as a cost-saving measure. It also promised to ask the government’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate any reports of abnormal price changes or retailers colluding to raise the price.

On Tuesday, the FTC said it had looked into the matter and met with representatives from three major suppliers and five top retailers to warn them against price-fixing.

In addition, shoppers were told not to panic, with the Department of Consumer Protection saying supermarkets would be able to restock their shelves.

“Toilet paper is as necessary to life as bread and butter. Price markups are a sensitive topic for citizens who live by the principle of frugality because of their stagnated wages,” Taiwan’s China Times commented.