How the market works – The psychosis from lack of toilet paper accompanied all the world during the lockdown. With us, however, she felt much less, just because Italy produces twice the toilet paper it consumes. This is why the shortage of toilet paper has resolved quickly, as he explains Luigi Lazzareschi, CEO of Sofidel, the company that produces the famous Regina rolls: “The demand for the product increased by 100%, while our production and delivery could not grow by more than 40%. But in Italy the product has quickly returned available in supermarkets. For us, the large purchases of the product have caused few changes: since it is not perishable, one more purchase today means one less tomorrow ”. It’s allestero, for example in England, a net importing country, that the rolls have been missing for months.
This also happened for reasons related also to transport of toilet paper: it is a light product but bulky, and this makes it difficult to greatly increase the quantity transported. Part of the consumer panic, Lazzareschi explains, is due to seeing the rolls disappear from supermarkets. It is the unavailability of the product that pushes people to stock up on it as soon as they see him reappear on the shelf, this feeds the spiral of panic. But in no country has the demand for toilet paper been as high as in the United States United States: in March, in New York, a roll could even cost 10 dollars. And still today the product remains difficult to find.
The history of the toilet roll – Yet precisely in the United States toilet paper was born, by the New Yorker Joseph C. Gayetty. It was sold for the first time in 1857 and only later, in 1879, did the first appear rolls. In 1942 the double veil, which holds the air between the two sheets and thanks to this it leaves that mattress effect that makes the paper so soft to the touch. In addition to the air, it is the virgin cellulose to make toilet paper softer: this makes recycled paper still considered a second choice by consumers and increases deforestation. The manufacturing companies have responded to this serious image problem by offering guarantees on the origin of the wood. Today more and more often the virgin fiber they buy and use complies with the FSC and PEFC certifications, which guarantee a responsible exploitation of the forests.
The Italian situation – Italy, which until 2015 was second only to Germany for the production of toilet paper in Europe, currently has returned to the top in European production. IS Lucca, says Lazzareschi, is of importance the first world paper district. A record that not only concerns the production of the finished product, but also of the machinery for the transformation of the paper which are then sold all over the world.
The preferences of each country – This is not the first time that people have accumulated toilet paper in the house. It has already happened in the past, in times of difficulty, such as during the oil crisis of ’73: we bought flour, salt, sugar and even toilet paper. “It is a product of primary necessity that gives security, and guarantees personal cleanliness ”, observes the CEO of Sofidel, who tells us how toilet paper changes a lot from country to country. The preferred qualities are very different: i German they prefer a very resistant paper, with a sheet composed of several layers. The English they want a very soft card while in France really like colored toilet paper, preferably pink. And in Italy? We don’t want to change the rolls often, Lazzareschi tells us, so we prefer very long ones. Yes, just like that old advertisement suggested …
Article produced in collaboration with the IULM two-year journalism master, edited by Lucio Valentini.
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