Toilet Paper Shelves... just wiped clean

My local supermarket is bare of toilet paper. The Great Toilet Paper Panic of 2018 is real (BBC):

Toilet paper getting more expensive is a direct result of rising raw material costs globally, according to Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Forest fires in Canada and disruption to production in Brazil are among the factors being blamed.

And as a result, the price of short fibre pulp, used to make toilet paper, now costs about $800 (£600) per tonne, compared with $650 a year ago, it said.

But one of Taiwan's largest toilet paper suppliers, YFY, says the situation is more drastic than that. It claims pulp costs have increased even faster than government estimates, soaring by about 50% since the middle of last year. Packing and transportation costs are also rising, it added.

People are panicking, and both the possibility of price rises and the panic have been covered in the media, each feeding the  other. *sigh*

Stories like this are common, and I suspect makers push them. Anyone remember, years ago, during the SARS panic some enterprising individual spread the idea that pineapple stopped SARS? And prices rose accordingly...
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