Israelis are again facing increases in the price of basic foods.
This time, the Finance Ministry’s Price Control Committee approved a price hike in the cost of government-controlled bread, despite strong objections from Economy Minister Nir Barkat.
By Monday morning, bread will cost nearly five percent (4.9 percent) more. Here’s how it will look: Sliced basic bread, which costs NIS 6.7, will cost NIS 8.3 in just a few hours. White bread, which costs NIS 5.2, will cost NIS 6.10 by morning.
Last week the import giant Diplomat announced a price hike of up to 25 percent on basic products.
Worse, the Israeli Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has also announced its prices will increase by up to 15 percent, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News.
The price of the popular ice cream will jump starting June 1, due to “a wave of rising prices for raw materials, energy and operating costs,” the company said.
“The management of Ben & Jerry’s Israel did as much as it could to prevent the increase in ice cream prices, which amounts to an average of five to eight percent. At the current point in time, we cannot prevent this.”
The mammoth Tnuva dairy and food company raised its prices earlier this month by 4.65 percent. The announcement followed a previous price hike of nine percent that was approved by the Finance Ministry rather than the 16 percent price hike that was originally expected.
Meantime, the Economy Ministry has required the 15 largest companies in the food industry to disclose their financial statements, detail production costs in their factories and disclose their profit figures within the next three weeks, according to the report.
The companies being required to disclose those reports are : Diplomat, Unilever, Osem, Shastowitz, Sugat, Hogla Kimberly, Central Company for Beverages, Strauss, Wili Food, Sano, Yifuara Tavori, Wissotsky Tea, Neto Trade, Abbott and Guri Co.
