One of the products most used by every citizen in its entire life cycle has undergone a significant increase in price in Italy, with retail prices which, in the last 3 years, have rose on average by +44%. This is toilet paper, a commodity present in all Italian homes and a product that is among the primary ones for families. The complaint comes today from Center for training and research on consumption who processed the data published on the site Mimit observatorycomparing the current prices of toilet paper in all Italian cities with those in force 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 is spent, with an increase of +44.2% in just three years, states the Crc Analyzing the data in detail, it turns out that it is Bolzano is the Italian city where toilet paper costs the most3.40 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 price lists between 2021 and 2024, it emerges as the heaviest increases are recorded in Grosseto and Ferrara, with a price variation exceeding +89%, +85% in Bolzano, Udine and Livorno. The provinces where toilet paper has increased the least in the three-year period are Messina (+14.5%), Bari (+15.3%) and Vercelli (+17.3%).
In the province of Lucca, home of toilet paper production, the average price is 2.90 euros compared to 2.24 in 2021 with an increase of 29.5%. This is one of the smallest increases at a national level.
“It is estimated that the toilet paper market in Italy is worth approximately 1.2 billion euros per year – states 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 and foremost the crisis in 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 prices of short fibre, which rose by 68% in January compared to the levels pre-price increases. Then there are the higher production costs determined by the high energy costs which has weighed on the industries of the sector, and not least the usual speculation which, as is known, has the greatest impact on the prices of those goods that citizens cannot do without”.
