The price increase of paper towels has caused heated discussions, the cost of raw materials has risen, and the impact of the terminal market remains to be seen.
Searching social platforms casually, it is not difficult to find that many netizens complain that "paper towels are expensive" and "paper towels are getting more and more expensive", and the time span of the complaints is from 2021 to this year, spanning several years.
According to industry statistics, Hengan International has risen nearly 22 times since its listing in 1999, Vinda International has risen about 7 times since its listing in 2007, and Zhongshun Jierou has risen 4.5 times since its listing in 2010.
In previous years, the price of paper towels has increased collectively many times
The collective price increase of tissue products is not uncommon, affected by factors such as rising raw material prices and paper production costs, there will be relevant reports almost every year and a half.
In December 2020, CCTV reported the news of the price increase of paper towels in many places across the country.
In March 2021, Hengan Group issued a price adjustment notice, saying that due to the continuous rise in the cost of imported wood pulp and bulk materials, the promotional supply price of the company's related tissue products will be gradually increased by 10%-20% from April 1. At the same time, other well-known domestic paper companies such as Vinda Paper, Zhongshun Jierou and Jinhongye Paper (the parent company of "Qingfeng") have also issued price increase notices and decided to increase the prices of some products from April 1.
In October 2021, a number of media reported that Zhongshun Jierou issued a price adjustment notice letter, saying that due to the recent continuous rise in raw material prices, the company's production of finished wood and operating costs have been increasing, and the company intends to adjust the price of Zhongshun Jierou's products from January 1, 2022
In November 2023, Hengan, Vinda, Zhongshun and Jinhongye successively issued price increase letters, with roughly the same content - due to the continuous rise in raw material prices and the increasing production costs, in order to ensure the healthy development of the company and continue to provide high-quality products and services, the promotional prices of related products will be adjusted.
This year, the price of raw materials for paper towels has increased again
According to the "financial circle", since March this year, the global paper industry due to the Finnish strike caused by the shortage of wood pulp supply continues to ferment, resulting in the price of wood pulp market has been rising, triggering a new round of price increases. This wave of price adjustment not only affects the wood pulp itself, but also directly affects the price of various paper products with wood pulp as the main raw material.
Papermaking requires raw materials, and the raw materials we use to make paper are called pulp. The pulp produced in mainland China can be mainly divided into wood pulp, waste paper pulp and non-wood pulp (reed pulp, bagasse pulp, bamboo pulp, rice and wheat straw pulp, etc.), but most of the raw materials of paper towel paper (including box facial tissues, plastic package soft facial tissues, napkins, handkerchief paper, etc.) used daily are wood pulp, and wood pulp is currently highly dependent on imports. In the traditional manufacturing industry, raw materials generally account for about 70% of the total cost, and the paper industry is no exception, and the most important raw material for household paper is wood pulp, accounting for about 60% of the total cost. It is reported that at present, the global pulp enterprises are highly concentrated, and to some extent, these enterprises have absolute bargaining power and sufficient pricing power. The leading enterprises of wood pulp products, such as Wuzhou Special Paper, Chenming Paper, Yibin Paper, Jingxing Paper, Yueyang Lin Paper, etc., have issued price adjustment notices, and formulated corresponding price increase plans for different types of paper products, among which the price adjustment of household paper products has begun to be implemented, and the price per ton has increased by 200-300 yuan.
At the moment, has the price of paper towels increased?
As the saying goes, when the price of flour rises, so does the price of bread. So will this round of paper towel price increases affect the end market?
In recent years, the tide of paper towel price increases, Hengan, Vinda, Zhongshun, Jin Hongye four major household paper giants more or less involved, issued a price adjustment notice, sounded the horn of price increases, this time has not seen these companies release price increase news.
The reporter called the headquarters of Hengan Paper, and the other party said that there was no price increase notice in the near future, and transferred the call to a sales manager in charge of offline channels in Guangzhou. The manager said that he has not received a price increase notice at present, but he has heard the news that the price of wood pulp products is about to rise, and it is said that the price will increase by 3%-5%, but his understanding is limited to offline supermarkets, and the specific time is uncertain. He also said that whether or not to increase the price and the magnitude of the increase will also vary in different regions.
Hengan Paper's leading brands are "Xinxiangyin", "Bamboo π", "Pinnuo", "Preferred", "Rouying", etc., and its central Xiangyin brand tea language series of handkerchief paper, pumping paper, rolling paper, etc. are made of virgin wood pulp.
The reporter called the hotline of Zhongshun Jierou again, and the customer service said that there has been no recent price increase notice, and if you want to know the latest changes, you can pay attention to the official website.
Zhongshun Jierou currently has four major brands: Jierou, Sun, Doremi, and Tuxiaomeow, and released its 2023 annual report on the evening of April 24. According to the annual report, the company's operating income in 2023 will hit a record high, reaching 9.801 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.37%; However, affected by factors such as raw material wood pulp and energy price fluctuations, the company achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 333 million yuan, a slight decrease of 4.92% year-on-year.
On the online platform, the reporter used historical price comparison software to query the prices of large packaging tissues such as Qingfeng, Plant Protection, Vinda, and Jierou, and found that the prices were basically stable within 60 days, and there was no significant change.
The reporter asked some young consumers, who said that they are accustomed to buying paper towels online, and they will wait until the discount to stock up in large quantities at one time, and then buy a large number of paper towels when they are about to run out and encounter discount activities, so they are not sensitive to the price changes of paper towels. By comparing their purchase price records with the prices of paper towels on sale, they found that there were no significant price fluctuations.
The reporter visited the offline supermarket again and found that many paper towels were being discounted and promoted, but even if it was the original price, there was no "outrageous price" complained by netizens.
Filmed by Consumer Reports
Filmed by Consumer Reports
At present, the impact of this raw material price increase on the end market does not seem to have been revealed, and it may be passed smoothly. Consumer Reports will continue to monitor consumer price trends for lifestyle products.