Pasta consumption still growing

Lately, I’ve been writing about the price of wheat, which prompted a review of a post I wrote in 2012 where I discuss one of my favourite uses of (durum) wheat, being Pasta.

In the original 2012 post I was willing Great Britain to lift its consumption game.

https://robzdravevski.com/2012/09/02/global-pasta-consumption-room-for-growth/

The source of the figures below is from possibly one of the world’s most important organisations, being the International Pasta Organisation. Watch out OPEC…..

They have a clear mission…… THEY ARE NON PROFIT ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO INCREASE PASTA CONSUMPTION AND AWARENESS…….

Here is a list of the average amount of kilograms of pasta each resident in the following country consumed in 2011

Italy 26.0 kg 

Venezuela 13.0 kg

Tunisia 11.9 kg
Greece 10.4 kg

USA 8.8 kg
Chile 8.4 kg

France 8.0 kg
Germany 7.9 kg
Argentina 7.2 kg

Iran 7.0 kg

Portugal 6.6 kg

Turkey 6.4 kg
Brazil 6.4 kg

Czech Republic  6.0 kg
U.K. 2.5 kg

Then. in 2019, they consumed…..

Italy 23.1 kg 

Tunisia 17 kg

Venezuela 12 kg

Greece 11.4 kg

Chile 9.5 kg

USA 9 kg
Argentina 8.7 kg

Turkey 8.6 kg

Iran 8.7 kg

France 8.1 kg

Germany 7.7 kg

Portugal 6.5 kg

Czech Republic  6.5 kg

Brazil 5.8 kg

U.K. 3.5 kg

Surprisingly, Italian and Brazilian consumption declined through the decade.

Argentine and Turkish consumption increased handsomely, while Tunisians and Brits ate 40% more pasta on a per capital basis.

Incidentally, the largest pasta consumption market is the United States at 2.7 million tons, followed by Italy at 1.4 million tons and then Brazil is third at 1.2 million tons.

Overall, total global pasta production has grown from 12.5 million tons in 2011 to 16 million in 2019.

I wonder if many Italians emigrated to Argentina over that time to account for the decline in Italy and an increase in Argentina ??

January 7, 2021

by Rob Zdravevski

rob@karriasset.com.au