Italy is deep in the pasta crisis – but there is hope

A crisis shakes Italy awake. It is about the national identity of our southern neighbour. One of the most important Italian cultural assets. The Minister of Economic Affairs, Adolfo Urso, has convened a government crisis meeting specifically to deal with the crisis.

The reason Italians get sleepless nights: pasta. More precisely, the paste price.

17.5 percent increase

Pasta prices in Italy rose 17.5 percent year-on-year in March, local media reported. Urso therefore convened a committee before Thursday to discuss the blatant rise in pasta prices, a department official told the Washington Post.

At 17.5 percent, the price increase for pasta is more than twice as high as Italian consumer price inflation, which was 8.1 percent in March, according to the European Central Bank. Only in 12 of the 110 Italian provinces can you currently buy a kilo of pasta for less than 2 euros.

Only recently has the wheat price fallen again. Pasta is made from durum wheat, prices of which have fallen by 30 percent since last year, according to data from Italy’s largest agricultural organization, Coldiretti. For the production of pasta, only water needs to be added to the wheat, so the price increase is not justified, Coldiretti said in a statement.

The Commission will therefore investigate on Thursday what role raw material, energy and production costs may have played in the price increase.

Higher energy costs, supply chain and inflation

Manufacturers justify the high cost of about 2 francs per package with higher energy costs, supply chain disruptions and inflation. As a result, they are forced to ask for more money for the staple food of the Italians. Michele Crippa, an Italian professor of gastronomy explains:

Accordingly, Giuseppe Ferro, CEO of La Molisana, a major Italian pasta maker, told Il Sole 24 Ore that prices are likely to fall again in September.

The government’s response shows the “symbolic, emotional and cultural value that pasta has for Italians,” Fabio Parasecoli, a nutrition science professor at New York University, told the Washington Post. He compares the pasta debacle in Italy to the mustard shortage that recently caused drama in France – and led to panic buying.

Urso said in a statement that regardless of the outcome of the case, consumers will benefit from the current debate. Because due to the increased attention for pasta prices, many companies are already stating that the increase in pasta prices is only temporary.

(yum)