Protests by truck drivers have caused a spontaneous and unauthorized blockade of heavy vehicles on the Puglian territory, hindering the regular passage of grains towards mills and flour and semolina towards food producers. President of Italmopa, Vincenzo Martinelli, has written to Prefect Antonio Giannelli of Foggia and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, requesting immediate government intervention to unblock circulation. Truck drivers' protests mainly concern rising fuel costs but also occur without the adjustment of transport prices to absorb the increase in diesel (the so-called fuel surcharge) guaranteed by most milling companies.

Mills and pastries, but not just them, are currently halted for days or are close to running out of stocks. 'The risk of not finding pasta, bread, and sweets on shelves in the coming days – says Martinelli – is concrete. Supply to large retail chains risks stopping throughout the region.' To get an idea of the potential impact on the grain-pasta chain, it suffices to think that most of the hard wheat grinding for semolina used as the base of pasta production is concentrated in Puglia, which is the main producer of hard wheat with about a quarter of the national total. The continuity of the production cycles of mills depends directly on the regular supply of hard wheat and the timely delivery of semolina obtained from its transformation into pastries, flour mills, and sweet industries and of products for baking and confectionery, and the preservation of this situation exposes an increasing number of plants to a concrete risk of production halt, already verified for some realities, with inevitable repercussions downstream.

Immediate government intervention is required to unblock circulation and ensure the continuity of the Puglian agricultural chain's production, avoiding further economic and alimentary disasters.