According to recycling and waste management news service Euwid, the price of mixed used paper jumped from €2.50 per tonne last year to €85 per tonne this March, daily Financial Times Deutschland reported. Meanwhile some businesses are paying up to €120 per tonne for used paper that is immediately available.

“It is conceivable that it will come to a supply shortfall,” head of Karl Knauer cardboard product producer Richard Kammerer warned the newspaper.

Other industry professionals said getting their hands on the material they once took for granted is becoming increasingly difficult, and the problem is set to reach companies from online delivery to department store chains and name brand companies.

And while Kammerer said delivery times have gone up by six to reach 12 weeks in some cases, packaging producers already raised their prices by about 10 percent in March, with another increase of between five and 10 percent expected this summer.

According to the newspaper, the sector was simply not prepared for an increase in demand following the financial crisis when cardboard producers cut back on production.