May 7 – “Life is a combination of magic and pasta,” reads a quote by Federico Fellini. A combination that is increasingly adopted worldwide, as exports leaped by 4% in 2014, exceeding the 2 million tons threshold, for a total turnover of more than €2.2 billion. Pasta today weighs about 7% of the total export value of the food industry, and in the last 15 years, the ISMEA observes, shipments abroad have been continuous and in rapid growth. In the case of dry semolina pasta – which represents more than 80% of the entire sector – exports grew, starting in 2001, on average at a rate of 2.3% per annum in volume and 5% in value, with a stop only in 2008, when the rise in price of durum wheat brought to a drastic reduction in the quantities placed on international circuits (around 5%). (Red)
