Anyone who has visited supermarkets or wholesale markets in Israel to shop for summer fruits in recent days will have been able to notice the phenomenon of high prices. Despite the season being at its midpoint, the prices are at early season levels, and even at the discount supermarket chains, one would be hard pressed to find any fruit selling for less than 2.5 Euro per kilo.
A price comparison across several networks shows that prices are indeed very high relative to what would be considered normal at this time of the year. Prices of grapes range from 3 to 4.5 Euro per kilo, mango prices range from 2.5 to 4.5, while prices of stonefruit all fall in that range as well. These are the prices found in the large supermarkets; in farmer markets and organic stores prices have occasionally been twice as high.
Out of season fruits are also participating in the trend, with avocado prices reaching as high as 9 Euro per kilo and cherries sold for over 11 Euro per kilo.
These developments in the summer fruits market joins a yearlong pattern of price spikes of both fruits and vegetables that has created a serious stir in Israel. Much of the discussion so far has been regarding the prices of vegetables which are seen as basic food items whose prices cannot be allowed to spike excessively, but the extremity of the price spikes in the fruits market is causing them to be added to the debate.
From the growers’ perspective, much of the blame for the high prices comes down to the gap between what supermarkets and wholesalers pay to buy the fruit and the prices they charge customers. Professor Turjeman who serves as the head of a prominent agricultural committee explained “the arbitration gaps are killing us. Instead of the consumer enjoying our produce at a normal price, the fruits pass through three sets of hands before they reach the consumers. The growers are certainly not the ones making a lot of money.”
Source: mako.co.il