UK Edition
One of Britain's biggest toilet roll makers has insisted there is plenty of supply to go around as retailers seek to fight off a new wave of panic buying.
Accrol said that it is ready for a repeat of the hoarding behaviour seen during the first lockdown, when lavatory paper ran out for weeks at major supermarkets. The firm said that is ready to "satisfy additional demand, should it materialise".
It came as the British Retail Consortium (BRC) pleaded with shoppers to only purchase what they need.
Accroll was operating at full capacity during the spring lockdown to meet heightened consumer demand for its toilet roll and other tissue products, bosses said. They expect to continue supply at normal levels throughout this month's restrictions too.
The firm added: "[Accrol] remained fully operational across its three sites, successfully protecting the health and safety of its employees throughout and subsequently through the period of regional restrictions," the company added.
Accrol has a 13pc share of the overall UK tissue market, which includes toilet roll, kitchen towel and facial tissues.
Separately BRC boss Helen Dickinson urged consumers to remain calm before the crackdown starts on Thursday.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she said: "We should all cast our minds back to March and April and remind ourselves that there absolutely is plenty of food in this country and there is no need to panic buy.
"What businesses have shown is that their supply chains are very capable of meeting the demand of us all if we continue to buy what we need and not to over buy."
Ms Dickinson added that any signs of stockpiling had been "very isolated at the moment", but urged Britons not to engage in panic buying as it would "in itself cause a problem".
Retail bosses fear a return to scenes in March when shoppers rushed to stock up on essential goods such as lavatory roll, cleaning products and food.
Even though supermarkets coped with the surge in demand, Andrew Murphy, Waitrose's operations chief, told the Telegraph that it was "incredibly touch-and-go" during the height of the crisis.