The great toilet paper scare of 2020

In the spring of 2020, toilet paper flew off store shelves amid a bout of panic buying—both here in Canada and globally—at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Readers will be relieved to know that during the crisis, toilet paper production in Canada held steady, at levels more than sufficient to meet domestic demand.

Toilet paper manufacturing sales during the pandemic

Although we cannot tell you exactly how many rolls of toilet paper are produced in a given year, we do know how much money manufacturers received for their product.

Canadian toilet paper manufactures sold $1.2 billion in toilet paper in 2020, up 3.3% from 2019 and 8.0% higher compared with a decade earlier. In 2021, sales were down 1.7%, a $21 million drop from the previous year.

The business of sanitary paper product manufacturing

Every six months, we count every active business in Canada. In the last half of 2024, we counted 33 sanitary paper product manufacturing businesses plying their trade in six provinces in the second half of 2024, 23 with employees and 10 without employees. Sanitary paper product manufacturing runs the gamut of household paper products, from facial tissue and table napkins to toilet paper.

Most of the sanitary paper product manufacturers we counted in the second half of 2024 were located in Quebec (13 manufacturers) and Ontario (12). Quebec laid claim to the most sanitary paper product manufacturers with employees (11), while Ontario (6) reported the most manufacturers without employees.

Nationally, there were three sanitary paper product manufacturers with 500 or more employees, with one each in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.

British Columbia had two sanitary product paper manufacturers, with the largest employing 20 to 49 people. 

There was one small sanitary product paper manufacturer with employees in both Nova Scotia (5 to 9 employees) and Alberta (1 to 4 employees).

There were no sanitary product paper manufacturers operating in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Saskatchewan or the territories in the second half of 2024.

The price of household paper supplies is higher today than during the great scare of 2020

In the year leading up to the pandemic, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for household paper supplies, which includes toilet paper, rose 6.4% on an annual average basis in 2019. 

The most commonly reported CPI figure is the 12-month percentage change, also known as the year-over-year percentage change. This figure compares prices in the current month, to prices in the same month of the previous year. 

In March 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, the CPI for household paper supplies increased 3.5% compared with March 2019. By April, during the height of the toilet paper scare, the CPI for household paper supplies rose 14.2% year over year before declining slightly in September (-0.4%).

In 2021, Canadian households were paying on average $192 a year for “other paper supplies,” which includes toilet paper, up from $175 in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

In 2022, Canada experienced its most severe bout of inflation in four decades, as prices for household paper supplies increased, along with pretty well everything else. The CPI for household paper supplies increased 13.8% year over year in April 2023.

On a year-over-year basis, prices for household paper supplies declined in 11 out of 12 months in 2024. Although price growth is declining, price levels remain elevated. From January 2020 to January 2025, prices for household paper supplies have increased 15.3%.