Toilet paper prices skyrocket in Italy, in the province of Bari the increase stands at 15.3% more in the last 3 years. One of the products most used by every citizen in its entire life cycle has undergone a significant increase in price in the Peninsula, with retail prices which, in the last three years, have risen on average by +44%.
The complaint, reported by the Dire agency, comes today from the Center for training and research on consumption (Crc) which has processed the data published on the specific Mimit observatory, comparing the current prices of toilet paper in all Italian cities with those effective in 2021.
A pack of 4 rolls cost on average 1.74 euros in Italy in 2021, while today, for the same pack, an average of 2.51 euros are spent, with an increase of +44.2% in just three years. Analyzing the data in detail, we discover that Bolzano is the Italian city where toilet paper costs the most, 3.40 euros for a pack of 4 rolls, followed by Grosseto (3.15 euros), Udine (3.06 euros) and Trento (3.03). On the other side of the ranking, Syracuse, with an average price of 1.77 euros, is the cheapest province in Italy, followed by Bari (1.81 euros) and Mantua (1.87 euros). In total only 6 cities boast a price lower than 2 euros for a pack of 4 rolls.
If we analyze the trend of retail prices between 2021 and 2024, it emerges that the heaviest price increases are recorded in Grosseto and Ferrara, with a change in prices exceeding +89%, +85% in Bolzano, Udine and Livorno. The provinces where toilet paper increased the least in the three-year period are Messina (+14.5%), Bari (+15.3%) and Vercelli (+17.3%).
“It is estimated that the toilet paper market in Italy is worth around 1.2 billion euros per year – stated the president of the Crc scientific committee, Furio Truzzi – A good so indispensable for Italians that, as you will remember, during the pandemic it was one of the first to disappear from supermarket shelves, with citizens purchasing large stocks of this good. There are several factors weighing on the price increases: first of all the crisis of raw materials, with the war in Ukraine which led to a collapse in imports of wood from Russia from which the cellulose essential for producing toilet paper is obtained, and the consequent rise in international short fiber prices, which rose by 68% in January compared to pre-price increases. Then there are the higher production costs determined by the high energy costs that have weighed on the industries of the sector, and last but not least the usual speculation which, as is known, has the greatest impact on the prices of those goods that citizens cannot do without“.
