Italy plans on holding a crisis meeting Thursday as pasta prices continue to rise.
According to Reuters, the cost of pasta products soared 17.5 percent year-over-year in March, while Italian EU-harmonized index consumer prices rose 8.1 percent. The following month, the Italian National Institute of Statistics reported a 16.3 percent increase in pasta prices, compared to the previous year.
The meeting, which will be chaired by a watchdog appointed by the government, is the first for the newly created committee tasked with keeping tabs on unusual price movements.
The increase in pasta costs coincides with the overall rise in the cost of consumer goods. According to Business Insider, the local publication Ansa reported that Italy’s Ministry of Enterprises received a complaint filed by the consumer group Assoutenti after determining that families in Italy were being forced to spend an extra $27.60 this year.
The Italian agriculture group Coldiretti sees the increased price of pasta as an “anomaly that needs clarification” in light of the value of durum wheat, a key pasta ingredient, dipping about 30 percent over the past year.
