Barilla raises pasta prices 40 pct in 18 months

The price of pasta in Italy was up 22.4 percent in June from the year before, while the price of bread rose 13.0 percent. Prices of durum wheat used for making pasta have risen about 2.5 fold since the start of 2007.

Italian
inflation hit a record high in June on the back of surging energy and
food prices, crimping Italians' purchasing power as the economy
stagnates, official statistics showed.

The Barilla chairman Guido Barilla said
behinde the growing food prise stand the increasing Asian
consumption, the protection of biofuel and also the speculation. He
thinks the US and EU make a mistake with protecting biofuel, because
to make 1 liter biofuel people need 4 kilos food and water, and it
will make problems by supplying the world with food.