Vegetable prices continued to soar today. The wholesale price of cucumbers climbed 25% over the past 24 hours, from NIS 8 per kilo to NIS 10. Cucumber prices have climbed 156% over the past month.
The wholesale price of peppers rose 15% in one day, reaching NIS 11.50-12 a kilo. Pepper prices have risen 50% over the past month, and zucchini squash prices have doubled over the past month, plus 10% more over the past 24 hours.
Tomato prices remained unchanged today at NIS 8-8.40 a kilo, but a month ago were being sold for as little as NIS 2.80-3.20 a kilo, a 162-185% jump in one month.
The wholesale price of white cabbage has risen from NIS 1.80 a kilo a month ago to NIS 4.30 a kilo now, while red cabbage prices have jumped 38% to NIS 5.65 a kilo in one month.
Jerusalem vegetable wholesaler Ronnie Mizrahi told "Globes," "Already at 4:30 am this morning, there was not a cucumber to be seen in the wholesale market. There was no merchandise left. By 5 am, the peppers were gone, too. I think the situation will stay the same tomorrow. Really ugly tomatoes were sold in the wholesale market today for NIS 5-6 a kilo, while the price of good tomatoes stayed above NIS 8.50 a kilo, and there was no merchandise."
As if that were not enough, farmers today reported that their date crops had been severely damaged by the wind, but as of now, no shortage of dates in the market has been reported.
The farmers, vegetable marketing companies, and retailers are continuing their criticism of the government for not taking measures to prevent the current surge in prices. The farmers are complaining about a lack of proper government support for agriculture, while the companies and marketing chains criticize the Ministry of Agriculture for not opening the market ahead of time to imported vegetables.
Four working days before Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel declared the opening of the market to vegetables imported from Europe, but his announcement was too late to all any actual imports. The fact that the upcoming holidays leave few working days over the next three weeks is also an obstacle to imports.
The high price of peppers was also affected by the crisis prevailing among the pepper farmers last winter, when Russia halted the entry of goods from Europe, including Israel. The farmers who had relied on exports suffered losses, following which the government decided to allocate NIS 100 million in grants to farmers converting their pepper fields to other crops. The process itself was not planned, leading to a steep decline in pepper crop area, which is now resulting in a shortage and high prices expected to persist into the coming winter.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 17, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015