US Diaper Makers Warn EU of Shortages Under Law to Save Forests

US paper makers are warning the European Union that a new law requiring them to trace timber to its origins risks disrupting $3.5 billion of trade and raising prices for diapers, sanitary pads and other hygiene products.

It will be impossible to comply with the pending EU Deforestation Regulation because pulp supply chains are too diffuse to track all trees, and there’s often a two-year lag between the time they’re cut down and when they’re turned into fiber, according to the American Forest and Paper Association.

The US industry is a major exporter of “fluff pulp,” an absorbent material ...