Israel's food suppliers are warily watching rising global commodities prices. On Friday, Sugat CEO David Franklin said that the price of rice would rise by 50% after the Passover holiday. Other suppliers are already readying price hikes and uncertainty pervades the entire market.
Angel Bakeries VP baked goods Yigal Hayat is worried as he looks to the future. "When it rains, everyone gets wet. If the price of wheat rises worldwide along with other commodities, the price of cakes will go up too. Flour has doubled, and dairy products and margarine rose 5% just recently. All commodities are rising. In the past six months, we've absorbed the price hikes, but I don’t think that we'll be able to do so for much longer. We are reevaluating the situation, and so are our competitors," he said.
Angel Solomon Ltd. (Angel Bakeries) (TASE: ANGL) said that it has no plans at this stage to raise its price for bread products. The price for price-controlled bread rose by 4% before Passover.
Osem Investments Ltd. (TASE: OSEM) revised its price list in January, but has not yet made any decision about further price hikes. Osem CEO Gazi Kaplan said, "If the trend continues, there's no doubt that it will lead to an upward revision in prices for products that are radically affected by rising prices. We're monitoring the trends, and even if we raise our prices, the rise will be modest for these products. Obviously, pasta and soup nuts will be affected. We can't absorb extreme rises in commodities' prices, and when necessary, we'll adjust our prices accordingly."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 28, 2008
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