The skyrocketing gas prices have a snowball effect on food spending with the rise in the purchase of nitrogen-based fertilizers needed to grow crops. This is what Coldiretti affirms in reference to the impact of expensive energy on the tables of Italians, underlining that nitrogen fertilizers represent about 70% of the total and are produced from nitrogen obtained from the air and hydrogen obtained from gas, which cost has become prohibitive. “In Italy in the countryside – underlines Coldiretti – there are in fact increases ranging from + 170% for fertilizers to + 129% for diesel, but increases in the entire supply chain”.
Coldiretti dubbed it as a “deadly mix” that will cost Italian families almost 9 billion euros in 2022 for food spending alone, due to the effect of inflation that mainly affects the weakest categories, according to Coldiretti’s analysis. based on Istat data on Italian consumption and inflation trends in the first seven months of the year.