There is no peace for Sardinian agri-food. "The pandemic or the damage caused in the last week by the blockade of ports in the main regional seaports was not enough. The disproportionate increase in the cost of raw materials and energy was not enough, which had very heavy repercussions on the final cost of food products. even large retailers make the situation worse ".
The complaint is from Cna Sardegna. The micro-enterprises supplying modern distribution signs - explains the association in a note - are asking for adjustments to their price lists, most of which were signed in unsuspecting times and with production costs well below the current ones. But all or almost all find a strong resistance with the counterpart, who tries to limit the increases as much as possible or to apply them over long periods of time. The uncontrolled increases in energy, gas and fuel, as well as in almost all the most important food raw materials in the Mediterranean diet, such as wheat, cheese, meat, had already begun in the first half of 2021 and gradually significantly increased without setbacks.
Among the most evident items are flour, corn, cereals in general, which have marked increases of up to 100%. But butter, milk powder, meat, cheese and vegetables also recorded increases between 50 and 80%. To these are added all non-food products, but essential for the operation of the company and to present the product on the shelf, such as packaging. Cartons, films, packaging films and even goods handling platforms have seen increases of 60 to 80%.
The problems - underlines the Cna - were already evident last summer, but have worsened with the conflict in Ukraine, thanks to the inevitable speculations of the case. After an initial period in which converters tried to manage the increases by absorbing and bearing the higher costs directly, without applying increases, the decision to propose adjustments to the price lists in direct sales, as well as in bargaining with large retailers, was inevitably necessary.
"For each sale, the companies lose about 50% - explains the president of Cna Agroalimentare Sardegna Alessandro Mattu - because producers are in any case taking on the difference in the increase in costs, which they are not trying to pass on completely to the consumer. Instead, they are looking for to absorb the increase with a reduction in their margins, but apparently not even this is enough ".
