Italians are calling for a pasta strike to bring down prices.
via alarabiya
When it comes to skyrocketing pasta prices, Italians are crying: Basta! They have had enough after the cost of the staple of every Italian table soared by twice the rate of inflation. 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.
“The 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,” said Furio Truzzi, president of the group, Assoutenti. “The price of pasta is absolutely out of proportion with production costs.”
Grocery prices have risen more sharply in Europe than in other advanced economies – from the US to Japan – driven by higher energy and labor costs and the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine. That is even though costs for food commodities have fallen for months from record highs, including wheat for the flour used to make pasta. Stores and suppliers have been accused of profit-padding “greedflation,” but economists say retail profits have been stable and the problem comes down to the higher cost to produce food.
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’s popular with the public but can actually make food prices worse.
Shoppers like Noée 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.
h/t Simian_Stacker