ROME (Reuters) – Pier Luigi Bersani, head of Italy’s Democratic Party, will face his main rival Matteo Renzi in a runoff next week to pick the center-left candidate to fight to succeed Mario Monti as prime minister following the first round of a primary vote on Sunday.

With almost half the results counted, Bersani led with about 44 percent, ahead of Renzi, the youthful mayor of Florence, who was campaigning as a modernizer, at around 36 percent, according to party officials.

ROME (Reuters) – Pier Luigi Bersani, head of Italy’s Democratic Party, led his main rival Matteo Renzi in a primary to pick the center-left candidate in next year’s election, early counting indicated on Sunday, setting the stage for a final runoff vote next week.

With almost a third of the vote counted, Bersani had about 44.6 percent, ahead of Renzi, the 37 year-old mayor of Florence, who was campaigning as a moderniser, on 36.5 percent, according to party officials.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s centre left voted on Sunday to choose the candidate who will be the leading contender to succeed Mario Monti as prime minister after an election in March and take charge of steering the country through a deep recession.

Opinion surveys show Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani is the frontrunner among five candidates, followed by Florence mayor Matteo Renzi, who has vowed to shake up Italy’s political establishment if he is chosen to lead the alliance.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian center-left voters head to the polls on Sunday to choose the candidate who will be the leading contender to succeed Mario Monti as prime minister after a general election in March.

Opinion surveys show Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani is front-runner among five candidates, followed by youthful Florence mayor Matteo Renzi, who has vowed to shake up Italy’s political establishment if he is chosen.

ROME, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Borsa Italiana is set to launch
Europe’s first futures market for durum wheat in November to
cater to demand from the continent’s Italian-led pasta makers,
but building sufficient trading volumes will be a challenge,
traders say.

Grain futures generally take a long time to attract a large
trading base, and the minimal volumes seen since the launch of
durum futures in Canada <0#DW:> at the start of the year have
highlighted the difficulties in the niche grain market.

ROME (Reuters) – Thousands of Italian trade unionists rallied in central Rome on Saturday to protest against public spending cuts, job losses and factory closures, urging Mario Monti’s government to do more to help workers hit by recession.

“We’re here to support all the workers who are in dispute with their companies during this economic crisis,” said protester Michele Giuliva as he joined the rally organized by the left-leaning CGIL union, Italy’s biggest.

ROME, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Farm ministers called for greater
transparency and r estrictive measures to contain volatility in
fo od commodity markets at a meeting on Tuesday, but failed to
agree on the bold idea of strategic grain stocks and
side-stepped food use in biofuels.

Over 30 ministers and deputy-ministers joined the meeting in
Rome set up by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) after grain prices shot to record highs this summer – the
third price spike in four years – fuelled by drought in the
United States, Russia and other key producers.

ROME, Oct 16 (Reuters) – France, Italy and Spain on Tuesday
agreed to try and keep the European agriculture budget stable
after 2013, echoing a similar pact between Germany and France
last week, but Italy declined to support a wish to maintain
sugar quotas until 2020.

The farm ministers of the three countries met on the
sidelines of a food security conference at the United Nations’
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome.

ROME (Reuters) – The governor of Lombardy refused to resign over a widening graft scandal on Thursday but said he would appoint a new government for Italy’s wealthiest and most populous region, adding to political disarray six months from general elections.

Roberto Formigoni, who has led the northern region since 1995 and is a prominent ally of ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, announced his decision after the arrest of a senior official on Wednesday on suspicion of buying votes from the southern Calabrian mob.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian industrial output unexpectedly rose in August, offering some hope that recession may be easing slightly although the statistics bureau cautioned that seasonal factors may have distorted the data.

Output rose 1.7 percent month-on-month after an upwardly revised 0.1 percent fall in July. The figure beat all forecasts in a Reuters poll that had spanned -1.4 percent and +1.6 percent and averaged -0.4 percent.