United States Away from Home Tissue and Hygiene Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The market for the US Away From Home Tissue and Hygiene is expected to register a CAGR of 9.3% over the forecast period 2021 to 2026. The away-from-home segment of the tissues and hygiene market has been a key industry segment in the US, with a strong performance over the last few decades owing to the region's higher consumption of tissue and hygiene products.

Key Highlights

• In recent years, There has been an increasing demand from government agencies, school systems, university campuses, and hospitals for recycled content tissues and towels. For instance, the US federal government requires the tissue products bought with its funds, either by its contractors, agencies to follow the EPA guidelines, and ensure the purchase of paper products with least minimum recovered fiber contents.
• Furthermore, the US paper and wood products industry voluntarily continue to improve upon their sustainability records, with most US mills with tissue paper capacity using recycled paper. Also, the tissue manufacturers continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the facilities by reducing the use of fossil energy, truck transportation, and purchased energy. These instances are expected to drive the demand for sustainable Away-From-Home products in the region.
• The World tissue and hygiene products consumption have been continuously growing over the years, with an average per capita consumption of not more than 5.2kg. While the US holds the highest per capita consumption of 25kg per person owing to factors such as economic growth and a healthy population. With the presence of global players such as Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Georgia Pacific LLC, in the region, it is anticipated that the growth of the market would continue to evolve going forward.
• As with recent outbreak of a global pandemic, COVID 19 posing health and economic challenges added to nation-wide lockdown announcements are leading to fewer restaurant visits, reduced travel, and more people working home. This instance has temporarily caused a negative impacted on the growth of the market.

Key Market Trends

Toilet Paper to Account Major Market Demand

• Amidst the COVID situation, owing to the surge in demand for at-home toilet papers in the region reaching heights added with prominent players including Georgia-Pacific's inability to deliver at-home products. There has been a growing preference towards the away from home products such as toilet paper despite the fundamental difference in terms of dimensions and size. This enables a considerable opportunity for tissue manufacturers in the United States to leverage their existing mills producing commercial and consumer products and help counter the quirk supply chain.
• Also, despite the surge in demand for toilet papers across the country, the raw material prices, such as Pulp, remained subdued. For instance, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the prices of pulp and paperboard raw materials fell to the lowest point in nearly three years.
• These instances, in turn, encourages vendors to increase the production of toilet papers further. For instance, In March 2020, Georgia-Pacific announced increased shipments of its Angel Soft and Quilted Northern brands about 120% above their standard capacity.
• Moreover, vendors in the region are experiencing profits despite initial pitfalls. This is due to an increase in revenues from retail due to a surge in demand from busy healthcare facilities and production factories ramping up operations 24/7. For instance, Essity Hygiene & Health Products​ announced the preliminary result for the first quarter of 2020 in March 2020, reporting a total 67% increase in group' net sales.

Greater emphasis on hygiene to drive the market

• Away-from-home products are considered one of the most widely used commodities worldwide. It is estimated that nearly one-third of the tissue market, with around 21 million tons of tissue papers every year, is explicitly designated to AFH. The demand in the United States is attributed to consumers' preference for hygiene led by the region' uptick in disposable income that provides them opportunities for hotel stays and dining out.
• Amidst the pandemic COVID-19 situation, the United States, despite being worst hit by coronavirus pandemic, with over 1.85 million cases and 107,000 deaths as of 2 June 2020. The country began to ease the restriction by announcing the lift of lockdowns in 50 states with preemptive measures and guidelines that regulate hygiene and social distancing to help prevent the spread of the virus in public places.
• The rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the region due to the virus's contagious nature is enabling end-users such as healthcare sectors and food outlets to maintain a high standard of hygiene by adopting away-from-home tissues and hygiene products such as paper towels, napkins.
• For instance, recent studies conducted by the ECCMID reveal that the use of tissue papers in the toilets of public places provides much more effective protection than traditional practices as cloth towels, hand dryers against the spread of diseases. These instances are expected to drive the demand for Away-From-Home Tissue and Hygiene in the region going forward.

Competitive Landscape

The U.S. away-from-home tissue and hygiene market is highly fragmented. Due to high demand, many players are entering the market to have a stronghold in it by developing high-quality products for various end-user applications. Some of the key players include Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Georgia Pacific LLC (Koch industries), Sofidel Group​, Procter & Gamble, among others.

• September 2019: Cascades Tissue Group Inc announced the acquisition of Orchids Paper Products assets for a cash consideration of USD 207 million, which including Pryor, Oklahoma, and South Carolina operations, among others. This acquisition is aimed to accelerate the company's modernization of Cascades' U.S. tissue platform while leveraging its geographic and operational positioning in the retail tissue segment.

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