Pasta prices in Italy are rising twice as fast as the country’s already substantial inflation. That has prompted the government to call an emergency meeting to explore ways to mitigate the price hike of the popular food.
Scheduled for May 11th reports Reuters, the talks will be chaired by a government-appointed inflation watchdog. The cost of Pasta in Italy has soared 17.5% over the past year even as the cost of wheat has fallen. Headline inflation in the country is currently at 8.8%.
Pasta is not only expensive in Italy. Prices have also skyrocketed in the US since last October. A report from the St. Louis Fed Tracking the average price of spaghetti and macaroni shows a jump from $1.067 a pound in October to $1.465 in March after peaking slightly higher than in February. That’s the highest price ever recorded, with figures (from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics) going back to 1984.
However, there is a difference between American and Italian pasta. A Italian decree of 1967 The so-called “Purity Law” requires that all dried pasta sold in Italy be made from durum wheat, a variety of hard-grained, coarse-grained wheat. This variety is significantly more difficult to use than regular bread wheat, but it produces a pasta that will hold its shape when cooked without becoming soft or bland.
Less than 10% of global wheat production is durum wheat.
While inflation has affected several foods in recent years, pasta being a staple in so many homes, particularly in Italy, that the effects are far more painful. While higher wheat prices This was partly due to higher energy costs and problems in the supply chain.
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