''Tera' pressured and pushed you to pay more: The price of supervised dairy products will increase

December 22, 2021   

Will milk and cheese become more expensive? While the ministries of finance and agriculture declare that importing dairy products will lower prices, those same ministries are yielding to pressure from the Tara dairy company to raise the price of dairy products whose prices are controlled by the state. According to Merav Kristal on Ynet, Tara, which is owned by the Central Soft Drinks Company - the company that also owns Coca-Cola Israel - claims that the prices of dairy products under supervision have not been updated for about two years. Dairy products whose prices are controlled by the state are considered relatively cheap products, whose prices have risen at a lower rate over the years compared to other dairy products. According to the Ynet report, the joint price committee of the two ministries intends to increase the price of milk in a bag and carton by 31 cents fat and 11 cents fat, white cheese by 51 cents, sweet cream by 38 cents (and similar products), sour cream by 151 cents, Emek cheese by 281 cents, Gilboa cheese by 221 cents, Eshel and Gil. According to the report, the current debate is only about the amount of the price increase: 3.51 cents or close to 91 cents. In addition, the increase in the price of controlled dairy products may lead to an increase in the prices of other dairy products. Tara is seeking to raise prices due to a 1.47 agorat per liter increase in the target price of milk, which is updated up or down once a quarter. In the previous quarter, it increased by 1.7 agorat per liter, following the increase that also occurred in the first quarter of this year. In 2020, there was also a price decrease of 1.8 agorot. The increase in the price of raw milk is mainly due to the increase in the price of feed for cows worldwide, but also due to increases in production and packaging costs. According to the Ynet report, it was decided that a hearing would be announced regarding the amount of the price increase and that dairies, dairy farmers, chains and the public would be able to submit comments within two weeks. However, in these committees, the public has minimal weight and the opinions expressed are mainly those of commercial entities. Ynet notes that although Tara is the one that is supposedly pushing for the price increase, Tnuva is the largest dairy product manufacturer in Israel and holds the majority of the market share in regulated dairy products. Strauss also produces several regulated products, including cream and white cheese.