Toilet paper is a real necessity. If one day toilet paper is very expensive and in short supply, it's hard to imagine what kind of situation it will be. Recently, the people of Taiwan have encountered the phenomenon of expensive toilet paper in Taiwan. Many supermarkets have limited their purchases. What is the matter?
Why is Taiwan toilet paper robbed?
The supermarket's toilet paper shelves were snapped up, with sales up 10 times more than before. The people who heard the wind had to go back empty handed. At the first sight of the staff's distribution, the people rushed to the shopping cart to move the goods without waiting for the package to be removed, and the shelves were emptied in an instant.
There are supermarkets to meet the needs of the people, increase replenishment efforts, but still can not alleviate the momentum of people looting toilet paper. Some stores even limit the purchase of toilet paper. Only two packages of toilet paper can be bought for one card.
It all starts with a message a few days ago.
Last week, the head of several stores in Taiwan said that the price of toilet paper in shopping malls would rise by 10% to 30% in the middle of March due to the rising cost of pulp, with an average increase of NT $60 (about 13 yuan) per box.
As soon as the news came out, the Internet exploded. Some netizens posted pictures of empty tissue paper shelves in the market, and said with the text: sales are fast, it's terrible! Some netizens begged: "where else in Taiwan can I buy toilet paper, I'll buy a bunch, please!"
Why is the price of toilet paper increased in Taiwan?
Wang Shengyang, a distinguished professor in the Department of Forest Science at ZTE University, said that because Taiwan's environmental protection policy is relatively strict, even though the vegetation coverage rate is relatively high, it dare not use the island's wood to produce pulp. For example, in the early years, Taitang had a lot of land to plant eucalyptus for paper making, which could be used for pulping production in six years. But now no one dare to cut them down for fear of being criticized for destroying the ecology.
Therefore, Taiwan's pulp can only be purchased from places outside Taiwan, mainly Southeast Asia and North America with high vegetation coverage. With the rise of international wood price, the price of pulp is also rising, and ultimately these costs are passed on to the consumers of tissue paper.
The price of bleached staple fiber (BHK) used to make toilet paper in Hong Kong has increased by more than 50% annually, reaching a new high of $820 to $830 per ton (about 5000 yuan), according to Taiwan paper makers. In addition, the cost of packaging materials increased by 25% to 35%, and shipping costs also increased, with freight increased by 28% in the past year. The rise in the price of raw materials is not a matter of a moment.