Wheat prices send Italian pasta costs up

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Wheat prices send Italian pasta costs up

By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press Writer 47 minutes ago

Consumer groups urged Italians to refrain from buying pasta Thursday to protest rising prices for the beloved Italian 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 — and even handed out free pasta, bread and milk to passers-by to help ease the pain for those who decided to support the strike and forego pasta purchases at supermarkets and restaurants.
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 remain flat.
"Prices increase by five times between production and consumption," Toni De Amicis, a leader of Italian farm lobby Coldiretti, said during a protest in Rome. "The right recipe is to reduce the gap between production and consumption."


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Noooo!! Not pasta.

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  Don't pay a penne more for pasta! Reuters - Thu Sep 13, 11:38 AM ETROME (Reuters) - Many Italians excluded their beloved pasta from their supermarket shopping Thursday in protest at forthcoming price rises and consumer groups hailed the boycott as an excellent result.