http://d.hatena.ne.jp/good2nd/20080118/1200662803にて知る。
『朝日』の記事；
そういえば、昨年伊太利の消費者団体がパスタ値上げに抗議して、パスタ・ボイコットを呼びかけたということを思い出した。以下は昨年９月のThe Timesの記事；
日清製粉、パスタ４０％値上げへ 業務用、過去最大幅2008年01月17日23時26分
製粉最大手の日清製粉グループ本社は１７日、３月から業務用パスタを３０〜４０％、「マ・マー」など家庭用パスタを１５〜２０％値上げすると発表した。昨年１１月にも９〜２０％値上げしたが、その後も原料のカナダ産小麦が高騰したためという。３０〜４０％は同社としては過去最大の値上げ幅だ。他の大手も同程度の値上げを検討しており、レストランでのスパゲティの値段が春から大幅に上がる可能性がある。
同社によると、原料に使うカナダ産デュラム小麦の国際価格が、昨年８月末の１ブッシェル（約２７キロ）１０ドルから、今年１月中旬には２２ドルと倍以上になり、「企業努力では吸収できない」という。
カナダ産デュラム小麦は輸入小麦全体の４．６％（０５年度）を占め、日本製のパスタの大半の原料になっている。製粉業界２位で「オーマイ」ブランドのパスタを売る日本製粉も「値上げは避けられない」、業界３位の昭和産業も「日清さんと同様程度の値上げを検討している」という。
使う側の外食大手からは「この幅の値上げは悩ましい。パスタメニューの単純な値上げにはならないだろうが、付加価値をつける工夫をしながら、価格を調整する必要は出てくるだろう」（すかいらーく）との声が出ている。
デュラム小麦は、欧州連合（ＥＵ）地域内の不作で、カナダ産に需要が集中。バイオ燃料原料への転作や、ロシア、中国などでの小麦需要の増大で、小麦全体の需給が逼迫（ひっぱく）していることも、価格を押し上げている。
日本は消費する小麦の９割弱を輸入。ほぼ全量を政府が買い入れたうえ、小麦農家への補助金分を上乗せして民間に売り渡す。パンやうどん向けを含む大半の小麦は、４月と１０月の年２回価格を改定。次の４月には２０〜３０％の値上げが確実視されている。一方、量の少ないカナダ産デュラム小麦は毎月の国際価格が反映される仕組みをとっている。
http://www.asahi.com/life/update/0117/TKY200801170298.html
The Timesの記事を読むと、小麦が不作なのはヨーロッパだけでなく、北米、濠太剌利、モロッコ、シリアもそうであるらしい（原因は酷暑）。やはりいちばん問題なのは「バイオ燃料」ということになるのだろうか。先日、ジョセフ・スティグリッツが「バイオ燃料」の前面化というのは今まで別個の市場を形成していた食糧とエネルギーが同一の市場に統合されてしまうことだと書いていたことを思い出した。また、「バイオ燃料」ということだと、直接口に入れるんじゃないからいいんじゃないというノリで、遺伝子組み換えとかも現在より大っぴらにやられるのではないかという懸念を持つのだが、どうだろうか。
September 13, 2007
Rising prices prompt pasta strike for a day
Richard Owen in RomaItalians are being urged to forgo spaghetti, tagliatelle and ravioli today to protest against rising prices.
The one-day “pasta strike” has been called by the main Italian consumer groups, which blame the increasing use of durum wheat for biofuels for price increases of up to 20 per cent. The groups are trying to persuade Italians to boycott pasta and bread in the shops and order something other than pasta in restaurants and trattorias.
The strike will present a tug of war between Italians’ anger over price rises and their profound attachment to pasta – as much a symbol of italianità (Italianness) as pizza, opera and football. A recent opinion poll found that nearly half of Italians would rather forgo sex than spaghetti.
Yesterday, however, even Clemente Mastella, the Justice Minister and a noted bon viveur, vowed to support the strike. “The protest is more than legitimate,” he said. “In any case, going without spaghetti for a day will do me good.” He said that his wife did the shopping, and he had been shocked to find from her that a kilo of spaghetti cost on average €1.14 (78p).
The centre-left Government of Romano Prodi said that “alarmism” was unjustified. But Rosy Bindi, the Minister for the Family, admitted that many families struggled to make ends meet because the prices of pasta, bread and milk had gone up as much as 20 per cent over two months. Asked if she would join the strike, she replied that she was “already on a diet”. The consumer groups have promised to distribute free pasta, bread and milk in piazzas today, including Piazza Mon-tecitorio in front of parliament.
Carlo Rienzi, head of Codacons, one of the groups, said: “We want the Government to proclaim a price emergency and intervene immediately with measures to bring down prices by 5 per cent.” He said that thousands of families faced bankruptcy because of rises in utility as well as food bills.
Mario Rummo, head of the Italian Pasta Manufacturers’ Association, said that imports of durum wheat – from which pasta is made – had fallen partly because of poor harvests but also because exporters such as Canada were selling it as an ingredient for ethanol, driving the wholesale price up.
In addition to low crop yields caused by unusually hot weather in the US, Canada, Australia, Syria and Morocco, heavy rainfall in Europe damaged durum wheat crops this spring and summer, producing an estimated shortfall of three million tonnes. A recent report by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations predicted that partly because of the biofuel phenomenon global consumption of grain would outstrip grain production over the next decade.
Mr Rienzi, the Codacons chief, said that the gap between what the farmer received and the price the consumer paid was “absurd and criminal”. He said that the average family was paying an additional €1,100 a year on its food budget.
--28kg of pasta are consumed per person a year in Italy, the most in the EU and more than ten times the quantity in Britain Source: Associations of Pasta Manufacturers of the European Union
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2441759.ece