Quick Take — US duties on pasta increase from 92% to a maximum of 14%

The duty for La Molisana would be reduced to 2.26 per cent, while the rate for Garofalo would be set at around 14 per cent. The remaining 11 pasta producers – including Barilla – would face duties of 9.09 per cent, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.

Financial Times

The proceedings began after some US companies accused Italian pasta makers of selling at prices they considered too low, opening an anti-dumping procedure that included duties of up to 91.74% on top of the standard EU tariff of 15%. The prospect of such heavy charges had ignited a heated political and economic debate, with fears about the possible impact on Italian exports to the US, one of the most important markets for the sector.

Red Prawn

Drafted 2 January, updated 3 January 2026

Quick Take — Historic change: Supermarkets lead volume growth, overtaking Discounts

“From 2019 to 2023, their [the discounters’] turnover grew at an average annual rate of 9.3 per cent, compared to 5.7 per cent for the other operators”(we reported this here). Then there was aturnaround: the growth in volume of the hyper and super channel exceeded (2.5%) that of the discounters (1.3%) . E-commerce was very good at 8.4% (see first table below).

Circana data show how, after 9.1% in 2023, value sales grew more slowly in 2024 ( 2.4%) to consolidate in 2025 with a further 3.7%.

The significant novelty is that, unlike the previous two-year period, growth is no longer just an effect of prices, but is accompanied by a recovery in real demand: volumes, in fact, declining by 0.5% in 2023, turn positive in 2024 ( 1.8%) and accelerate in 2025 ( 2.3%). Supporting this rebalancing is also the dynamics of prices, which after a 9.5% surge in 2023, stop at 0.6% in 2024 and travel at 1.4% in 2025, returning to physiological levels.

Below: one of the factors in the recovery of the Iper Super channel (in which there are also superstores) was probably the strength of the private label, which expressed convenience, and which is beating the leading brands (such as Barilla or Coca-Cola, to give examples, see the second table). A comparison between the different channels – hyper/super/superstore ‘versus’ discounters – on prices is unfortunately not possible to date.

p.s.: looking at the ISTAT data, the drop in volumes highlighted a few days ago, seems to affect only small retailers, not the GD (page 3).

Note that ISTAT has only been using barcodes since 2020 and that not all retailers use them.

Compiled 7 September, updated 8 September 2025

Esselunga’s operating result

One of the many stories that have circulated about me is that I would have brought Esselunga poor financial results for 2003 and that this would have led to my removal. Nothing could be more untrue. If you look at the numbers, you can see that the 2003 Ros, compared to that of the early 1990s, was decidedly better, thanks in part to careful management of contracts with suppliers (see the example of Barilla) and to the negotiations carried out in the ESD Centre