Stacks of toilet paper are seen in the FairPrice Benoi Distribution Centre on March 7, 2020.

Toilet paper supply can be replenished quickly and there are no signs it will run out any time soon, leading toilet paper supplier Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) has said.

Mr Bernard Tan, Singapore's president for Sinar Mas, a group of companies that APP is a part of, said the recent toilet paper frenzy due to the Covid-19 outbreak does not mean that demand has increased, but rather that demand has been brought forward.

In earlier weeks, shelves of toilet paper had been emptied out in supermarkets both here and abroad.

Mr Tan said yesterday that domestic demand for toilet paper here is about 28 million rolls a month, or about five rolls a person.

HOARD

"But Singaporeans are starting to hoard toilet paper in the region of three to four months ahead, even though usage doesn't increase. So if a person uses five rolls a month, now they are stocking up 15 rolls.

"This frenzy that we have is quite irrational," added Mr Tan, noting that Singapore has many other toilet paper suppliers aside from APP.

Other suppliers here include Taisin Paper, Sanichem Industries and Grandzo.

Producing and converting pulp into tissue, packaging and shipping it out - all this takes two to six weeks, including the lag time of movements in between each stage.

Over the next few weeks, APP will be shipping to Singapore 200 containers of toilet paper amounting to about 10 million rolls, said Mr Tan.