In its bulletin on cereal supply and demand, the FAO confirms the increase in the cost of wheat since the beginning of July 2021. This surge, which culminates in a peak in August, following upwardly revised estimates harvest and global stocks, is challenging the pasta and bakery industries.

Bakery players are facing a sharp rise in the cost of wheat and the repercussions on bread and other pasta are already being felt in consumer dishes. The main raw material increases by 30%. A level not seen for nine years. Over the July-August period, Chicago futures prices gained 20.4%. Last week, pasta makers warned of future shortages of durum wheat, caused by weather problems in Canada and Europe. Main consequence: a risk of rising prices, or even a temporary shortage of pasta. The ton of soft wheat delivered to Rouen crossed the threshold of 250 euros indicates Le Monde, a record which dates back to 2013 and a price increase of more than 30% compared to the summer of 2020.

The situation has become very worrying for pasta manufacturers. They estimate that for a packet of pasta at one euro, the price already rises to 10 cents. In the ranks of manufacturers, many even fear having to go up to 500 euros per ton and in this case, the price of a package of pasta at one euro, would experience an increase of 20 cents. The durum wheat harvests are therefore down 32% compared to the average for the past five years. And the expected production declines were more than confirmed by the report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday August 12th. Wheat quotations rose slightly in July, rising 2.2 points (1.8 percent) to their highest level since mid-2014, according to the FAO. This increase was due to continued concerns about crop conditions in North America, where continued drought weighed on yields of durum wheat in Canada and spring wheat in the United States of America.