The michetta, the typical Milanese bread
War in Ukraine and increase in the prices of bread, pasta and seed oil: from the fluctuations of the last two years, beyond the shock, one certainty: Rome is fully a city in Southern Italy. Price growth is in line with Naples and Palermo and far from the northern Italy of Bologna and Milan.
This was confirmed by the analysis of the Center for training and research on consumption which analyzed and compared the increases in the materials most penalized by the war in Ukraine, namely wheat derivatives such as bread and pasta and seed oil, a product which in the aftermath of the outbreak of the conflict it had skyrocketed, causing scandal due to the evident speculation taking place.
The price of bread in Rome in line with Naples and Palermo
Thus in the Eternal City, without yet an industrial vocation and where the main economy remains that linked to tourism and mass tourism, a kg of bread has increased by 22% in two years, going from an average of 2.67 euros to 3, 26 euros. And here the comparison gives the right dimension of the Roman crisis, because in Palermo the increase was 9.2% but a kg of bread went from 3.39 euros to 4.35 euros. Just short of Rome. If we then move to Naples it is true that the increase in bread was 23.9% but in two years the price has risen from 1.88 to 2.33 euros.
In the north 1 kg of bread at a high price
And now the north where salaries are higher but also the job opportunities and the GDP but also the cost of living. In Bologna bread went from 4.80 to 5.15 euros with a 7.3% increase. In Milan, following a price increase of 11.7%, one kg costs 4.85 euros while two years ago it was 4.34.
The dear spaghetti
Here, perhaps driven by greater consumption due to the population and tourists, Rome “defends itself”. Two 500 gram packs are sold on average for 2.11 euros, 14.7% more than two years ago. But the gap with Milan is narrowing because in the north pasta has an average price of 2.02 with an increase of 23.2% compared to two years ago. And in the South, in Naples it sells at 1.86 and in Palermo at 1.42.
The expensive golden fry, that is, weighing in gold
Seed oil, the third of the products compared, confirms Rome in Southern Italy: In Milan 1 liter is 2.50, in Bologna 2.62 and in Rome it drops to 1.82. Then Naples with 1.58 and Palermo at 1.89.
Truzzi: “The effect of the war still weighs on prices”
“Net of inflation for the two-year period 2022-2023, equal to 13.8% in Italy, the data shows that two years after the outbreak of the war, price increases have not subsided, and the increases for consumer goods such as bread and pasta are not reabsorbed by the market – explains Furio Truzzi of the consumer research center – The conflict in Ukraine therefore continues to have direct effects on the pockets of Italian consumers, affecting products such as bread and pasta which Italians consume enormously annual. This is also due to speculative phenomena which affect the formation of prices in Italy and increase the differential with pre-conflict levels”.