Pasta steering committee: comment by Appf

19 February 2015 Off By Pastaria

by Justo Bonetto, secretary-general of APPF

APPF (Associazione Produttori Pasta Fresca – Italian Association of Fresh Pasta Producers) recently learned of the interesting and (given the difficult economic situation) timely initiative to create a steering committee to promote and support the entire pasta supply chain.

Based on the information contained in the brochure prepared by MIPAAF (organizers of the event together with MISE), the aim of the project is to find positive synergies between producers of quality durum wheat and those that utilize it and to identify suitable export-oriented promotional initiatives in order to attract EC funding. Fresh pasta is not one of the sectors specifically involved, by APPF has been assured by the highly-efficient MISE staff that it will be.

To provide a clearer idea of the fresh pasta sector which, until now, has played a back-seat role to dried pasta, almost a corollary both conceptually and in terms of legislation, it should be noted that:

• durum wheat is always used in fresh pasta products, often mixed with soft wheat, but in a significant number of cases also on its own;

• the durum wheat utilized is always a high-quality product and, unfortunately, is obviously and necessarily imported;

• Italian fresh pasta is the overwhelming market leader in Europe where over the last ten years it has increased by about 300%;

• on an economic level, fresh pasta has become a very significant element. Italian production is worth about 1 billion euros per year, just under 25% of that of dried pasta. A market that has been won thanks to its tangible quality and one that still has ample margins for growth.

The entire fresh pasta supply chain requires support in order to develop further. Quality durum wheat is certainly a mainstay we would like to have be Italian, but for us, eggs are also an important means.

We hope this initiative will be a success and that the actual involvement and weight of every sector of the “Italian pasta” universe will be properly taken into consideration.

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