Coronavirus: ‘Stop panic buying toilet roll - we won’t run out’

In many areas supermarket shelves are being repeatedly cleared of the product as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases continues to rise.

However, with the large scale production of paper products taking place on our doorstep – at the Newcel factory in Warrenpoint – there is no risk of the supply drying up.

Newcel’s operations director Eunan McGurk said there remains scope for increased production if required, and therefore “no need to panic”.

Mr McGurk told the News Letter: “When one person does it then everyone does it. That seems to be what is going on.

“We have four production lines and two of them run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The other two lines run two shifts which we could increase to three shifts to increase output...so there is no need to panic. If everyone just bought their normal amount there would be no problem.”

Mr McGurk added: “The demand for industrial paper products for businesses, such as factories, bars and restaurants, has increased by around 30% due to more intensive cleaning programmes at present, but the domestic toilet roll demand is up by almost 200% over the last week or so.

“That would suggest to us that the purchase of toilet rolls off the shelf by consumers is just a little bit of panic and not really necessary.”

Many retailers are already rationing how many toilet rolls each customer can purchase, with limits also being placed on some long-life foods, such as pasta, and on tinned products.

Toilet roll concerns have spread around the world along with the spread of coronavirus.

In Sydney Australia, Sky News reported the court appearance of two women following a fight in a supermarket isle over the last pack of toilet roll.

Police officers were called to the store in Chullora, about 10 miles from the New South Wales capital, on Saturday.

People across Great Britain have also been stockpiling toilet roll and some of those with a surplus have been listing their multipacks on websites, such as ebay, at greatly inflated prices.