Italian Truck Protests Halt Buffalo Mozzarella Production for a Day

Truck protests over diesel costs stopped buffalo mozzarella production for a day in southern Italy on Wednesday, Oct. 21, after freight disruptions interrupted deliveries and prompted a consortium official to estimate a €3 million loss.

Pier Maria Saccani, director of the Consortium for the Protection of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, estimated that about 1 million liters of buffalo milk could not be processed. He put the loss at €3 million over 24 hours. “Yesterday, no mozzarella was produced,” Saccani said. He described the situation as “very, very complex and delicate.”

A section of the A1-A30 junction near Caserta was temporarily closed from about 1 a.m. ET (05:00 UTC) Wednesday. The closure caused a 3-kilometer queue on the A1 toward Naples.

By 11:50 a.m. ET (15:50 UTC), police were identifying protesters ahead of a gradual operation to clear the sites. Pickets beside highways had been removed, while protest sites in industrial and intermodal areas remained. Punctured tires left some trucks unable to move.

Buffalo mozzarella production was just under 58,000 metric tons in 2025, with about 37% exported.

Italy’s earlier diesel-relief program allowed eligible freight and passenger transport companies using Euro V or Euro VI vehicles to claim tax credits for qualifying additional diesel costs. The credit covered up to 70% of those costs from March through August 2026, measured against February prices. The program had a €386.2 million spending limit, and its credit period ended before the Oct. 21 protests.

Demonstrations also spread across France on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17-18, over school conditions and cost-of-living concerns. They included clashes, fires and looting. The immediate grievances documented in France differed from the Italian truckers’ focus on diesel expenses.