Retail prices, in the last 3 years, have risen 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. This was reported by the Consumption Training and Research Center (Crc) which processed the data published on the specific Mimit observatory, comparing the current prices of toilet paper in all Italian cities with those in force in 2021. Vercelli is one of the three Italian provinces where – data in hand – the increase has been less decisive: +17.3%, together with Messina (+14.5%) and Bari (+15.3%). But otherwise, the panorama is very different.
A pack of 4 rolls cost on average 1.74 euros in Italy in 2021, while today, on average, 2.51 euros are spent for the same package, with an increase of +44.2% in just three years – states the Crc -. In detail, it turns out 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.
«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 that weigh on price increases: first and foremost the raw materials crisis, 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 pre-price levels. Then there are higher production costs determined by the high energy costs that have 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”.
