LONDON/BENGALURU — As several European borders limit travel to stop the spread of COVID-19, two of the world's biggest pulp makers say transportation logjams are delaying shipments of the raw material - the only ingredient in the toilet paper that people are hoarding to weather quarantines. In March, countries including Norway, Germany and Spain shut their borders to non-essential travel. As a result, Finland's Metsä Fibre and Sweden's Södra Cell International told Reuters that truckloads of pulp going through Europe are getting caught in traffic jams for hours, or even a couple of days. Pulp-based products - like Kimberly-Clark's Cottonelle toilet paper and P&G's Pampers diapers - are among the most sought-after goods worldwide as people stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19. While consumer companies currently have enough stock of most products to meet the unprecedented demand, they are urgently ramping up production so they have inventory on hand if quarantines extend.

Source: International New York Times April 08, 2020 05:26 UTC