Saying they haven’t seen the price of durum wheat rise like this in 40 years, the Canadian Pasta Manufacturers Association is urging Prairie farmers to seed more durum in 2008.
The association, in a release Wednesday, described how the hard costs of making pasta have risen dramatically under a “perfect storm” of agricultural conditions.
“In 40 years, the pasta
industry hasn’t seen anything like this and no one expected the durum
price to climb as high as it has and as fast as it has,” the group wrote.
Read Also
Alberta Crop Report: Rains in the south, dryness in the north
Rain fell onto the southern half of Alberta last week, while hot and dry conditions persisted in the northern half, according to the province’s crop report released on July 18.
“Droughts in Australia, extremely wet weather in parts of Europe, and
very dry conditions in North America have resulted in poor or smaller crops of
durum wheat,” said the group, which represents Canadian pasta makers Catelli, Italpasta, Grisspasta and Primo Foods.
“Added to that was the low amount of carry-over durum inventory
left from the 2006-07 growing season as many farmers switched their crops
from durum wheat to corn crops in response to environmental needs to meet the
growing demand for ethanol fuel.”
Thus the price of durum has risen from about
$4.90 a bushel in 2005 to $5.40 a year ago and steadily upward
through 2007 to a plateau of $21, the group said. “This escalation continues, as
prices have increased in 2008 so far to $23-$24 a bushel.”
The group said it hopes Prairie farmers will “expand their plantings of
durum this year to help alleviate the problem,” but implied it’s not optimistic, citing Canadian Wheat Board reports that the durum market is
in an undersupply position in 2007-08.
That said, “at the end of the day, pasta continues to be one of the most affordable
food products out there for Canadians,” the group continued. “A family of four can still have a
nutritious, tasty and filling meal with pasta as the basis.
“Therefore, when it comes to purchasing pasta, consumers should focus less
on the price of this grocery staple and more on the nutritional and health
benefits of pasta.”
The group also noted that prices for spring wheat, soy oil, coffee, cocoa, cheese and others among food processors’ staple commodities remain well above their 10-year averages.
