These questions are frequently asked by our business partners or simply by friends, who shop in supermarkets every day.
The first answer is quite simple.
The costs of two main ingredients, from May 2021 (i.e., when the storm started) to October 2022, have gone up:
- Durum wheat semolina (1.1 kg per 1 kg of pasta): + 40 Euro cents per 1 kg of pasta
- Energy (power + gas): + 20 Euro cents per 1 Kg of pasta
Of course, the costs of packaging materials, transport, and so on have also increased. No wonder, therefore, that the consumer price of pasta has increased by 50% or more on supermarkets’ shelves.
Despite this, the demand for pasta is growing, both because it is a delicious dish of Italian cuisine, and because it remains a very cheap source of carbohydrates, protein, and some essential minerals.
Will the price of pasta keep increasing? Probably not, according to most operators in the sector, especially because the durum wheat crop in Canada has recovered from the shortage of the 2021 crop. However, both the growing demand for pasta and the serious uncertainty about the cost of energy advise moderating any easy optimism on future price drops.