One of the products most used by every citizen throughout its entire life cycle has undergone a significant increase in price in Italy, with retail prices rising on average by +44% in the last 3 years. 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 the Consumer Training and Research Center (Crc) which processed the data published in the dedicated publication 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, we discover that Bolzano is the Italian city where toilet paper costs the most, 3.40 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 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 – 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 influencing the price increases: primarily the raw materials crisis, with the war in Ukraine which led to a collapse in wood imports 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 in January by 68% compared to pre-price levels.
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 ” – he concludes Truzzi.
