Italy’s bloated pizza price hard to digest

Enjoying one of Italy’s classic dishes has just become noticeably more expensive, with the average cost of cooking a margherita pizza up almost 30% in December from a year ago. That far outstrips last month’s inflation rate of 12.3%.

The contrast underscores how, even after €75bn (about R1.4-trillion) of government cash spent on helping Italians with gas and power bills, there’s only so much that can be done as other prices inch up.

Analysis of the quintessential Naples fare is revealed by Bloomberg’s

monthly Pizza Margherita Index, which aims to provide insight into the cost-ofliving shock for Italians. It tracks the prices of basic ingredients — flour, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and olive oil. It also assumes the electricity consumption needed to cook a pizza with a home electric oven.

The cost of making one at home has risen more quickly than that of a ready-made version. The price for that item is up by just 9.9%, possibly due to economies of scale. Aside from energy, the steepest jump in cost in the index was for mozzarella — up almost 27% in the same period — and flour, which increased just under 22%.

Margheritas are probably the most commonly produced among the 8-million pizzas estimated by food guide Il Gambero Rosso to be cooked across Italy every day.