The Swede Magnus Groth, 58, CEO of Essity, on the grounds of the paper mill in Mannheim. In addition to wood, straw is now also used there to produce Zewa paper.
Image: Marcus Kaufhold
The paper manufacturer Essity supplies the world with Tempo and Zewa. CEO Magnus Groth on panic buying, rising prices and the preferences of Germans.
Mr. Groth, the world economy is groaning under scarcity, there is a lack of wood in construction, and there are no computer chips for new cars. Will we soon run out of toilet paper again, like twice before in the Corona era?
Nothing at all suggests that at the moment. The raw materials for production are available and our paper mills run without restrictions.
You made the same claim last winter and spring 2020. The shelves in the supermarket were still empty.
Panic buying was responsible for this, for which there was no reasonable reason even then. The short-term lack of toilet paper in some supermarkets was not because we delivered less than usual. There wasn’t too little of it. It just piled up at home with people and no longer as usual in the supermarket, incidentally not only in Germany, but also in a number of other countries.
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