Angry shoppers willing to give up one of their favorite foods. This is what is currently happening in Italy, where a consumer association has called for a national boycott of pasta sold in supermarkets for a week, from June 22 to 29.
A price “disproportionate with respect to production costs”
“The aim of the strike is to see if keeping pasta on the shelves lowers prices,” explained Furio Truzzi, president of the Assoutenti association, quoted by Euronews, stressing that “the price of pasta is absolutely disproportionate to the costs of production”.
While food prices have been on a downward trend for some time, including wheat for the flour used to make pasta, the association denounces the “greed” of big retailers and manufacturers.
Manufacturers who defend themselves by saying that they must also transfer the rise in energy prices, transport and wages.
A 12% increase in the shopping budget for families
Last April, it was estimated that the price of pasta in Italy had increased by 17% in one year, pointed out an article in La Presse, which recalled in passing that an Italian consumes an average of 23 kg of pasta per year.
The Assoutenti association had also noticed increases sometimes higher in certain regions: with up to +50% in Modena, in Emilia-Romagna. Which causes an emergency meeting of the cabinet of the President of the Council Giorgia Meloni.
But on this occasion, only the real-time monitoring of the price of these foods was announced. However, consumer associations demand more, hence the call for this pasta strike.
Assoutenti estimates that Italian families of four spend an average of €915 more per year on groceries, an increase of almost 12%, for a total of €7,690
Source: BFM TV
