The rapid alert commission on pasta prices meets for the first time, commissioned by the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, after price increases of over 17.5% in the last year, recorded by Istat in march .

All players in the wheat and pasta sector, government representatives, institutions and associations will participate.

Prices are now record throughout Italy, over 2 euros per kilo. In Cagliari, the main ingredient of Italian cuisine, according to Assoutenti, costs a good 2.40 euros per kilo .

Unless there is a sharp drop in the prices of the national dish in the short term, consumers are even ready for a "spaghetti strike". "We won't buy pasta for 15 days," the president of Assoutenti, Furio Truzzi, threatened at the table.

Even now, according to the report of the technical and statistical institutions present at the table, Istat, Ismea and the Chamber of Commerce, there are already the first, weak signs of a decrease in price .

«We are implementing all possible measures to avoid possible speculation. We don't want to make controversy - Urso said - but we need to be transparent".

For the president of Coldiretti, Ettore Prandini, there is no speculation but it is "necessary to work together to strengthen supply chain contracts", with monitoring done together with consumer associations.

According to the national president of CIA-Agricoltori Italiani, Cristiano Fini, "tight controls on labeling and more supply chain contracts between farmers and industry, is what is urgently needed to save Made in Italy wheat and pasta", while the 'Unione Italiana Food minimizes the problem by observing that «even if the costs remained the current ones, we cannot forget that the increase in expenditure per person per year would be around 10 euros, or 16.5% more on a product that costs on average around 1.07 euros per package».

Numbers disputed by consumer associations. First of all Codacons .

(Unioneonline/D)

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