Ethanol: It's a Pasta Disasta
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.14.07
We have noted previously that demand for ethanol feedstocks has driven up the price of beer in Germany, tortillas in Mexico and pasta in Italy; Yesterday the Italians demonstrated that they have had enought of high prices and went on strike.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. "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."
According to the Associated Press, 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. ::Mercury News
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- Cambodia’s First Ethanol Plant Will Use One-Fifth of Nation's Cassava Crop
- Ethanol Industry Still Dodging Blame For Role In Global Food Crisis
Mostly a reduced supply issue. Drivers are:
Commodity grain farmers switching from wheat to corn or beets, or canola growing, attracted by the high prices created by increased biofuel demand: e.g. no one is making ethanol out of wheat - not enough sugars in it.
Drought on Australian and some US wheat farms.
Pasta and prices haven't increased one cent up here in Edmonton Alberta. Methinks someone is gouging those poor Italians. Mama mia!
Trying to save the combustion engine seems to be a futile effort. With the number of personal cars in the world, something has to give. So far it has been the environment, now it is starting to be the dinner table. Transferring our addiction won't ween us from dependency. But it's obvious that this is going to take awhile to resolve. In the meantime, the population grows...