23 July 2007, 07:41 AM
  • A combination of factors means the price of everything made of wheat seems likely to go up in the next months.

Bread, biscuits and pasta are only a few of the items, which could be affected by a soaring wheat market. In fact, the combined effects of a bad harvest in Europe, a rising demand for grain in China and the growing use of wheat to make biofuels in Canada have caused the prices for wheat to rocket.

The Italian pasta industry seems to be the first one to suffer. Italians are more and more dependent on imported wheat to produce their most popular staple, most of which from Canada and Syria. However, the former has apparently no wheat available for export before November and the latter has just banned all exports of grain.

Alberto Camisa, of Italian food importer, Fratelli Camisa, explains, “Some of our suppliers can’t get flour because mills haven’t got any, or are holding back to see how the situation will evolve. They are used to have contracts over several months, now it is only for a week of supply. One brand has already put its prices up by ten percent.

“There was a big meeting in Rome with people from the industry last week. Barilla, Italy’s biggest producer, will put its prices up by between 23% and 27% by the end of August. There are no possibilities to stock up now as they are not giving anymore than the normal orders,” he adds.

Even further increase could be seen in the autumn and it is highly likely other products using flour will experience a similar rise. Some already doubt the prices will ever go down to their former level.