Experts have warned the national lack of pasta found on shelves could turn into a long-term problem soon.
The news comes after some shops around the UK have reported shortages, including even in Edinburgh.
The national problem has been caused by a shortage of durum wheat after a drought and soaring temperatures hit one of the biggest producers in Canada, Wales Online reports.
Similarly in Europe farmers were also affected, after mass amounts of rainfall which has reduced the quality and quantity of durum wheat.
Durum wheat is the key ingredient found to make pasta by being ground into semolina, which is then used to make spaghetti, penne and macaroni.
As a result of the poor harvest, the prices of wheat shot up by 90-100%, and UK shoppers looking to purchase pasta as part of their weekly shop could face paying 50% more for the product in the future.
Also potentially adding to the national shortage of pasta are the shortages of lorry drivers which has disrupted the food and drink chain, leading to emptier shelves across UK supermarkets.
Britain currently has an estimated shortage of over 100,000 drivers which has been a result of multiple factors such as Brexit and the pandemic.
The high price of wheat could result in pasta shortages in supermarkets, said Jason Bull, Director of Eurostar Commodities, the UK’s leading independent ingredients experts.
"It’s crazy. I’ve been doing this for 17 years, but I’ve not seen this before."
"It’s because of the durum crop – pasta is made with durum wheat and the biggest exporter is Canada.
"They’ve had a very bad crop due to extreme dry weather – it’s hardly rained since they planted the crop so they’re down about 42%. It had a big drop and then the USA is down nearly 50%.
"Couple that with the opposite effect – in Europe and France they’ve had excessive rain, so the wheat crop isn’t suitable for milling.
"So, it’s a bad situation on both sides of the Atlantic."
The result of this year's harvest has raised the concern that climate change could have an effect future shortages.
“The cost price on durum has shot about by about 90-100 percent which feeds into an increase cost of raw materials.
“It’s all going to depend on the next crop. If Canada and the USA continue to get dry weather and no rainfall it will affect the crops.”
