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Letter to the editor

Day of protest takes pasta off menu

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 14, 2007

MILAN, Italy - Consumer groups urged Italians to refrain from buying pasta Thursday to protest rising prices for the beloved staple, in a strike that was high on symbolic value but apparently low on real impact.

Consumer groups organized protests in Rome, Milan and Palermo.

Activists say Italians will soon be paying up to 20 percent more for their daily serving of fettuccine, spaghetti or linguine. They say prices are being driven up by middlemen, while earnings for farmers and producers are flat.

The impact of Thursday's pasta strike seemed more symbolic, since shoppers typically stock up on their pasta, buying multiple packages at a time to always have it on hand. Few shoppers or diners seemed to give it much notice at all.

"I wasn't aware of the strike, but I do know about the expensive prices," said 34-year-old Emanuela Mafrolla, a consultant and mother shopping in central Rome. "Pasta is a basic dish. How could I possibly give it up?"

Economists and producers say pasta price hikes are being driven by increasing wheat prices worldwide.

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.

[Last modified September 13, 2007, 23:46:59]