Toilet paper shortages in American stores are causing people to relive the nightmares of the pandemic era. However, the lack of toilet paper is not a direct consequence of the significant port strike on Tuesday. It's due to panic buying.
On Tuesday, social media was filled with reports of shortages, showing empty shelves where toilet paper and, to some degree, paper towels were meant to be. "They cleaned out the toilet paper at my local Walmart in Virginia. Toilet paper hoarding 2.0!" wrote one person in a post on X, accompanied by a picture of empty shelves.
Panic Buying Triggers Toilet Paper Shortage
"Shelves at Costco & Target running low or out of paper towels in Monmouth County NJ," posted another X user. "Seeing people buying TP & water too in reax to port strike. Costco employee told me they were sold out of TP/paper towels this am."
The strike at ports from Maine to Texas will not affect the supply of these products. By some estimates, over 90 percent of US toilet paper consumption originates from domestic factories.
The remainder primarily comes from Canada and Mexico, which means it is mostly transported by rail or truck, not ship. The American Forest and Paper Association, the trade group representing paper manufacturers, expressed concerns about the potential impact of the port strike on its members.
However, the association cited the risk of the strike disrupting its exports to foreign markets, not imports. If anything, the strike could lead to a surplus of toilet paper, not a shortage.
Regrettably, that didn't prevent the mob psychology of people rushing to stockpile out of fear of a shortage, fueled by the bad memories of shortages and purchase restrictions that occurred in 2020 during the pandemic.
A similar situation occurred in 2022 when the Omicron variant of Covid-19 swept across the country, leading to panic buying among Americans. Empty supermarket shelves symbolised the pandemic's ongoing disruption to the country's supply chains.
Bananas And Other Imports Vulnerable To Strike
The port strike will likely cause shortages of perishable goods for which the US market relies on imports. One such item is bananas. Nearly 100 percent of the US supply of bananas, the most popular fruit by volume, is imported, and over half of the banana imports enter through the ports currently struck as of early Tuesday morning, according to data from the American Farm Bureau.
Over a quarter of the imports pass through just one port in Wilmington, Delaware. Bananas have a short shelf life. They typically go from being cut from a banana tree to appearing on grocery shelves in just a few weeks. Afterwards, they turn brown or black on your kitchen counter in less than two weeks.
Consequently, shippers could not stockpile a large quantity in anticipation of the strike. A strike by nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) against the nation's East and Gulf Coast ports on Tuesday disrupts the flow of numerous American imports and exports, potentially becoming the country's most disruptive work stoppage in decades.
The strike began at midnight and is expected to disrupt the flow of several goods across the docks of nearly all cargo ports from Maine to Texas. These include bananas, European beer, wine, and liquor, furniture, clothing, household goods, and European automobiles, in addition to parts essential for the operation of US factories and the employment of American workers in those plants.
It could also impede the flow of US exports through these ports, negatively impacting sales for American companies. Despite the port strike, toilet paper imports are unlikely to be affected, rendering panic buying unnecessary.
