Rising prices for pasta are weighing on the pockets of Italians. The average price for pasta rose last year by 17 percent to up to three euros per kilo, which is a record, consumer protection groups protest.
The Italian government has now turned on the authority responsible for monitoring prices. It is intended to bring pasta manufacturers and consumer protection organizations together to examine why prices have risen so sharply recently.
The Coldiretti agricultural association has complained about speculation about wheat prices. Farmers would only get 36 cents for a kilo of wheat, while the price of pasta has risen twice as fast as inflation.
The head of the association of pasta producers, Riccardo Felicetti, rejected the accusation of artificially inflating the price of pasta. “The price of wheat fluctuates and it is not the pasta industry but the global market that determines this price,” says Felicetti. The pasta sold in supermarkets was produced months ago when energy costs were at a peak.
