For Italian families, the meat on the table is increasingly salty. In March, at Easter, the wholesale prices oflamb they even increased by 31,9% year-on-year. Double-digit price increases also for chicken (+ 17,3%), rabbit (+ 11,6%) and turkey (+10,2%), while meat cattle (+ 3,9%) and swine (+2,8%) recorded less consistent increases. Not only that: even the price of the eggs took off, registering a +29,5%. The data emerges from the wholesale price index elaborated by Unioncamere and BMTI on the price lists of the Chambers of Commerce.
As for the month-on-month comparison, March versus February meats sheep increased by 18,3% and those of rabbit by 12,7%, driven by the increase in demand typical of the pre-Easter period. The good performance of the demand for fresh cuts has also caused a surge in meat swine (+4,4%) while for those cattle there was a slight decrease (-0,6%).
In the dairy sector, in February the prices of milk they fell 5,5% in March after -12,5% in February. Compared to last year, however, current prices are almost 20% lower: a contraction which has been affected by the ongoing production growth in the milk market both in Italy and in the European Union.
Also long-aged cheeses show a decrease in prices compared to twelve months ago (-6,2%), mainly attributable to the decreases recorded for Grana Padano. Among other products, sharp increase for the cream (+13,2%), in the wake of sustained demand from the processing industry. The comparison with twelve months ago is also positive (+15,1%).
In the oils and fats sector, new decline forolive oil, down 2,4% month over month and 24,4% year over year. March instead confirmed the signs of recovery for butter prices: +7,2% compared to February and +4,1% year-on-year.
