A shortage of pulp and the high cost of gas and electricity is leading to a rather unexpected - albeit urgent - crisis: while toilet paper prices are set to rise, the quality and thickness of the toilet paper sold in the Netherlands is likely to suffer. 

Europe faces pulp shortage as Russia halts exports of birch 

You might not think it, but the ongoing war in Ukraine is having some pretty serious consequences for a few seemingly random industries. With Russia opting to ban the export of birch wood - one of the key materials used to make toilet paper - manufacturers across Europe are facing a crisis. 

RTL Nieuws reports that there is an anticipated shortage of between 800.000 and 1,2 million tons of pulp, and that the shortage will last until at least mid-2023. This shortage is set to have knock-on effects on the price and quality of toilet paper sold in the Netherlands, with the price of pulp having already risen by around 45 percent this year.

Toilet paper in the Netherlands might get thinner and more expensive

The Netherlands isn’t the only country suffering. This year has already seen toilet paper prices rise in Switzerland as a result of high production costs, while manufacturers in Germany are struggling to keep up with the high energy prices.

Luckily, the Essity factory, which is based in Belgium and responsible for a lot of the toilet paper sold in the Dutch market, told RTL Nieuws that they weren’t experiencing any production issues yet, but noted that they didn’t know what the future would hold.