Oricon: “With energy increases at risk of children eating in the canteen”

“The strong inflationary pressures that began in 2021 and continued in the first months of this year with the exponential increase in the cost of raw materials, food, gas and energy, have eliminated the operating margins of companies, already very low and now in deep red. This, added to the difficulties linked to the economic recovery after the years of the pandemic, risks stifling any hope of recovery for the sector. For too long now we have been fighting a battle to safeguard a fundamental sector for the country’s economy and with an important social value. But without adequate intervention by policy makers, the sector risks coming to a halt. The first intervention, however at no cost, is the suspension of the Cams “. With these words Carlo Scarsciotti, president of Oricon, Collective Catering and Nutrition Observatory raises the alarm that the Government intervenes in support of the Collective Catering Sector, in which about half of the revenues derive from procurement contracts at fixed prices. In the first quarter of 2022, the increase in the cost of gas and energy was respectively 72% and 7% more than the last quarter of 2021. According to the Oricon surveys, for the same consumption, for catering companies collective, the cost of the energy bill increased in the first quarter of 2022 by over 26 million euros compared to the same period last year. As a percentage of each meal, the impact of the cost of energy (gas and electricity) went from 1.9% in the first quarter of 2021 to 7.7% in the January-March 2022 quarter. fuel on a single meal, which grew from 0.3% in the first quarter of 2021 (1.46 euro cents per meal) to 0.4% this year (1.83 cents per meal). In addition to this already worrying picture, there is the strong increase in the price of food raw materials, which accounts for 54% of the overall increase in costs: in February 2022, the FAO food price index (FFPI) reached 140.7, in an increase of 5.3 points compared to January and 24.1 points above the level of a year ago, thus establishing the new all-time high (3.1 points above the previous high from the same month of 2011). For companies in the Collective Catering sector, the increase compared to the first quarter of 2021 is 32 euro cents per meal, equal to approximately + 20%, which has brought the incidence of this cost item from 32% to 39. %, assuming all other costs are constant. The February price hike was driven by sharp increases in the sub-indexes of vegetable oil and dairy prices, but grains, meat and fish also rose significantly. Overall, energy, fuel and raw materials accounted for 34.4% a year ago while in the first quarter of 2022 they exceed 47%. “In a sector that works mainly in fixed-price contracts, the sharp increase in costs for companies has translated into a compression of operating margins of about 15 percentage points, on already very low margins – explains Scarsciotti -. The sector has been struggling for two years to stay on its feet, with an incredible effort by companies not to waste the professionalism and skills of those who work in the sector. Consider that collective catering companies are still waiting for the Provision of the Director of the Revenue Agency to have access to the Fund allocated with the Sostegni bis, which we hope will arrive as soon as possible. This umpteenth hurricane that hits the sector threatens to knock it out. For this reason we strongly ask that this situation be taken into account and that measures be taken, first of all the suspension of the new Cams for the collective catering service and the supply of foodstuffs ”.