Pasta prices have surged across the mults this month amid an ongoing shortage of durum wheat.
A raft of pasta SKUs have shot up in price across Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons in the past few weeks, according to exclusive Assosia data [6 w/e 17 November 2021], as wheat supply dwindles in Europe and Canada.
In Sainsbury’s, the price of 29 own-label pasta SKUs has risen over the last week by between 5p and 30p. A 1kg bag of Sainsbury’s wholewheat fusilli, for instance, has risen from £1.60 to £1.90, while a 250g pack of canneloni is also up from 70p to 80p.
A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman stressed the cost of individual products was “determined by a number of factors and prices can fluctuate, both up and down, as a consequence”.
Asda’s pasta prices rose too over the past month across 24 SKUs, the data shows. A 3kg bag of Asda fusilli, for instance, rose from £3.50 to £4.30, while a 500g bag of wholewheat penne rose from 60p to 79p.
Morrisons appears to have pushed fewer prices up, though some 500g own-label pasta packs, including fusilli, macaroni, penne and linguine rose by 5p in late October.
“You’re now seeing the input cost pressures that have gone into producers flowing through and retailers having to react to manage their profitability”, said one source at a major supplier.
Not all pasta suppliers have raised prices though. A Napolina spokesman told The Grocer it had “not confirmed any price increases with customers” for its branded pasta.
“We are in contact with all customers and are seeking to mitigate inflationary pressure,” he said.
Nor does Tesco appear to have raised any prices in the category so far, according to the data. A second supplier source suggested the UK’s biggest retailer “will have pushed everyone back to 1 January”, adding it “takes big balls to cut out supply to Tesco”.
This Article first appeared in the Grocer
