Anerica has been protesting pasta for years... so what if they 20 percent more for pasta? How much is it over there 5 cents? Anyways, an interesting article overall because it discusses the increasing costs of wheat production. Kind of makes you wonder about corn (see the e-85 article below)... and whether we should all buy stock right now!Be it fettuccine, linguine or spaghetti, Italians will soon be paying up to 20 percent more for their pasta. Consumer groups are calling for a one-day pasta strike Thursday not against eating it, but against buying it to protest the increase. But producers say the strike targeting Italy's national dish is wrongheaded because the price is linked to a global rise in the cost of grain.
The average Italian eats about 62 pounds of pasta a year, on a peninsula so far untouched by low-carb diet crazes.
"There is no dish that costs less," said Furio Bragagnolo, the vice president of the Italian pasta manufacturers association. "Whoever decides to strike against pasta will spend more on whatever they buy instead. A plate of pasta probably costs less than an apple."
The increase in the price of pasta is being driven by rising wheat prices worldwide, economists and producers say.
The demand for wheat is the result of several trends, chiefly an increasing demand for biofuels, which can be made from wheat, and improved diets in emerging countries where putting more meat on the table is raising the demand for feed for livestock, said Francesco Bertolini, an economist at Milan's Bocconi University.
As a result, wheat stocks worldwide are being depleted and grain prices are soaring. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that U.S. stockpiles are at their lowest level in 33 years.
Italy produces only about half of the high-protein durum wheat used to make high-quality pasta and bread; the rest is imported from overseas markets, including the United States, Canada and Ukraine.
2 comments:
Cute cat :)
Pasta is fattening!
I love pasta!! Pasta forever.
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