CHANGING CLIMATE Those who still have doubts about the effects of climate change will have time to think about it, perhaps in front of a coffee at the bar (which now costs an average of 1.40 euros) or in front of a very expensive hot chocolate (cocoa +154% since the beginning of the year ). Or perhaps buying a basket of the long-awaited cherries (+18.5%).
In all three cases, in addition to the geopolitical tensions that dramatically increase the cost of maritime freight, there is precisely this: climate change.
This is, for example, the case of seasonal fruit produced and consumed in Italy. Also in this case, in addition to a transport effect linked to the high cost of petrol, what causes retail prices to skyrocket is precisely the scarcity of product linked to an unfavorable climate: the sharp drop in temperatures recorded in recent days in Italy risks be felt also in the pockets of consumers, through an increase in retail prices of fruit and vegetables, is the alarm raised by Assoutenti, after the frosts that are affecting crops throughout the peninsula.
«From north to south Italy, growers are reporting problems related to the trend in temperatures, which rose above average in recent weeks and then suddenly dropped – explains the president Gabriele Melluso – A swing that could damage trees and plants, decimating some typical productions of the period spring. This means that in the coming weeks consumers risk having to deal with significant increases in prices for seasonal fruit such as apricots, cherries, peaches, nectarines and plums but also pears and apples.
Increases that would be added to the heavy increases in fruit and vegetables recorded in the last month. «The prices of fresh fruit – it is explained – have in fact risen on average by 7.3% on an annual basis, with peaks of 20.1% for pears and 18.5% for stone fruit (apricots, cherries, plums, etc.), apples +7.2%. And if the climate wasn’t enough, “in this context the risk of speculation is very high.”
And the coffee at the bar? There is also a boom in the prices of cocoa and coffee, with the prices of the two raw materials reaching new worrying records on international markets.
Increases that could soon lead to sharp increases in retail prices for a multitude of products sold in Italy. This time the alarm comes from Codacons. At the beginning of January the price of cocoa was around 4,250 dollars apiece
ton, while last Wednesday, 24 April, market prices had reached 10,800 dollars, with an increase of +154% since the beginning of the year. A similar trend is recorded
for coffee, with Robusta which went from 2,800 dollars a ton last January to 4,250 dollars on 24 April, marking a +51.8%, while Arabica in the same period rose from 190 to 224 cents per pound (+ 18%).
But what could the impact be? For cocoa and coffee-based products alone – explains Codacons – Italians spend over 10.2 billion euros a year, around 392 euros per family: the turnover of chocolate in our country is around 2 billion of euros, with a per capita consumption of approximately 2 kg. Pods and capsules are worth 595 million euros per year, while mocha coffee records sales of 640 million euros. As many as 7 billion euros is the business of espresso coffee consumed at bars.
An explanation of the phenomenon comes from Sima’s environmental doctors: »At the basis of the surge in prices of some raw materials are the climate changes that are affecting our planet – explains the president Alessandro Miani – Periods of prolonged drought, increase in average temperatures associated with sudden and intense rainfall, they profoundly alter the environment and the territory, decimating agricultural production with cascading effects on the supply of certain materials and, consequently, on retail prices. A global effort is needed to combat the causes of climate change and global warming, because at this rate, surges in the prices of raw materials on the markets risk becoming more and more frequent.”
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