Mayors of Naples and Bari urged Italy to move up talks with truckers as diesel-cost protests disrupted food deliveries and threatened municipal services across the south.
In a joint statement issued Wednesday, Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi and Bari Mayor Vito Leccese said blockades were tightening food supplies and reducing retailers’ stocks. They acknowledged haulers’ cost pressures and urged officials to keep residents from bearing the disruption, asking Deputy Premier and Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini to bring forward talks scheduled for Oct. 27. They said the effects were beginning to reach waste collection and public transport outside urban areas.
The protests have already left some supermarket shelves empty in southern Italy, EconoTimes reported earlier.
Pier Maria Saccani, director of the Consortium for the Protection of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, said about one million liters of buffalo milk produced Wednesday could not be made into mozzarella. Saccani estimated the loss at 3 million euros in 24 hours, the Associated Press reported.
The Associated Press reported that blockades stopped milk from reaching dairies, while consortium rules require the milk to be made into mozzarella within 60 hours. Saccani also said rising production costs had not been fully passed on to customers; producers and dairies faced losses and closures, AP reported.
Anadolu Agency reported that some truckers had suspended their protests, while drivers in Gela said they intended to continue their blockade Thursday. Deputy Transport Minister Edoardo Rixi said Thursday that fuel-cost assistance for road hauliers had reached 540 million euros, up from 434 million euros; the government also approved separate support for agriculture and fishing. The mayors said talks with haulers remain scheduled for Oct. 27.
