{"id":6385,"date":"2023-06-12T04:25:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T08:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?p=6385"},"modified":"2023-06-12T04:25:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T08:25:04","slug":"food-prices-are-squeezing-europe-now-italians-are-calling-for-a-pasta-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/12\/food-prices-are-squeezing-europe-now-italians-are-calling-for-a-pasta-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Food prices are squeezing Europe. Now Italians are calling for a pasta protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 When it comes to skyrocketing pasta prices<\/a>, Italians are crying: Basta!<\/p>

They have had enough after the cost of the staple of every Italian table soared by twice the rate of inflation<\/a>. One consumer advocate group is calling for a weeklong national pasta strike starting June 22 after the Rome government held a crisis meeting last month and decided not to intervene on prices.<\/p>

\u201cThe macaroni strike is to see if keeping pasta on the shelves will bring down the prices, in the great Anglo-Saxon tradition of boycotting goods,\u201d said Furio Truzzi, president of the group, Assoutenti. \u201cThe price of pasta is absolutely out of proportion with production costs.\u201d<\/p>

Grocery prices have risen more sharply in Europe than in other advanced economies \u2014 from the U.S. to Japan \u2014 driven by\u00a0higher energy and labor costs<\/a>\u00a0and the impact of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. That is even though\u00a0costs for food commodities<\/a>\u00a0have fallen for months from record highs, including wheat for the flour used to make pasta.<\/p>

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Stores and suppliers have been accused of profit-padding \u201cgreedflation,\u201d<\/a> but economists say retail profits have been stable and the problem comes down to the higher cost to produce food.<\/p>

Feeling the pressure, some governments in Europe have capped prices on staples or pushed for agreements with grocery stores to bring down costs, something that\u2019s popular with the public but can actually make food prices worse.<\/p>

Shoppers like No\u00e9e Borey, a 26-year-old picking up groceries at a chain store in Paris, said she is all for setting ceilings for some food to help low-income workers and students.<\/p>

She buys less meat and opts for less expensive grocery stores.<\/p>

\u201cInevitably, all the products I buy have gone up by 20%, whether it\u2019s butter or berries,\u201d Borey said. \u201cI\u2019m not buying cherries anymore because they cost 15 euros a kilo\u201d (about $8 a pound).<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>

The French government reached a three-month agreement with supermarket chains for them to cut prices on hundreds of staples and other foods, which is expected to be extended through the summer. Britain \u2014 where food inflation has reached 45-year highs<\/a> \u2014 is discussing a similar move.<\/p>

Countries like Hungary, with the highest food inflation in the European Union<\/a>, and Croatia have mandated price controls for items like cooking oil, some pork cuts, wheat flour and milk.<\/p>

The Italian government says it will strengthen price monitoring by working more closely with the country\u2019s 20 regions but won\u2019t impose such limits.<\/p>

Spain has avoided price controls but abolished all value-added tax on essential products and halved tax on cooking oil and pasta to 5%.<\/p>

The measures come as food banks are seeing soaring demand<\/a> in some countries.<\/p>

\u201cThings are not getting better, they are getting worse for people,\u201d said Helen Barnard of the Trussell Trust, a charity that operates more than half of the food banks in the United Kingdom.<\/p>

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Spending much more to buy essentials like milk, pasta and fresh vegetables<\/a> to \u201ctop up\u201d donations received from supermarkets is a struggle for Anna Sjovorr-Packham, who runs several community food pantries serving discounted groceries to some 250 families in south London.<\/p>

\u201cWhile the demand from families hasn\u2019t gone up hugely, the cost has, and that\u2019s been really difficult to support,\u201d she said.<\/p>

Prices for food and non-alcoholic drinks have actually fallen in Europe, from 17.5% in the 20-country euro area in March to a still-painful 15% in April. It comes as energy prices \u2014 key to growing and transporting what we eat \u2014 have dropped from record highs<\/a> last year. But economists say it will be many months before prices in stores settle back down.<\/p>

In comparison,\u00a0U.S. food prices<\/a>\u00a0rose 7.7% in April from a year earlier, 8.2% in Japan and 9.1% in Canada. They hit 19% in the U.K.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>

The numbers play into expectations that the European Central Bank will raise interest rates<\/a> again this week to counter inflation, while the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to skip a hike<\/a>.<\/p>

In Europe, turning to price controls plays to voters, who get constant reminders of the inflation every time they hit the checkout counter, said Neil Shearing, group chief economist for Capital Economics. But he said such changes should be reserved for instances of supply shocks, like war.<\/p>

Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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